Just One Week
by MissusSlimShady
Summary: With Len's parents coming in to town, he's determined to prove that his college life is going well. A little white lie puts him in desperate need of a girlfriend, even if only for a week. That's where his best friend, Rin, comes in.
1. Friday

"Rin, I need to ask you a favor."

Behind our table, the barista served the next customer in line. The cafe was filled with the sounds of chattering college students, the scent of coffee beans, and the warm feeling of indoor heating. I was seated across from my closest friend, Len, at our table in the corner of the familiar shop. The full-wall window next to the table showed the snow piling up outside.

I rolled my eyes. "This should be good."

I shouldn't have been so harsh. Although I didn't point it out to him, I could tell he was nervous. The last time I had seen him nervous, we were freshmen, and he had been standing outside of the headmaster's house with a bag of mouse traps in one hand, and a roll of string in the other. The frat house he chose had a unique tradition, and he definitely had a reason to be nervous then.

"So… you know my sister is getting married," he began. His hands were folded on the table, and he was leaning forward, as if telling me a secret.

I brushed some stray strands of blonde hair out of my face. "Yeah, I know."

Lily was a sweetheart. I met her when Len and I first became close in high school. She called me the 'little sister she never had.'

"Well,"' he took a deep breath. "She's getting married here. In Aspen." Behind the counter, someone dropped a drink. An uproar of groans grew from the staff.

I chuckled. "She's getting married in Aspen… in the Winter?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what's wrong with her," he said dismissively. "I just know that they moved the wedding up to next week."

"Next WEEK?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Next week. Saturday."

 _Well shit,_ I thought to myself. _How am I supposed to get my bridesmaid dress?_

"They're having it at the ski resort. The dude she's marrying is some huge snowboarder, I guess."

I couldn't help but chuckle once more. "You guess? Have you met this guy?"

Hints of a smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. "Yeah…" he trailed off. "The dude is about as interesting as drying paint, though. I never bothered to get to know him."

I shrugged. "Pro snowboarding is pretty interesting."

Len shook his head. "That's not the point," he snapped, clearly growing impatient.

"Then what is?"

He took a deep breath. "So… my parents are flying into town tomorrow night."

 _Ah, here we go._ Len's parents had always been a bit… obsessive? Is that the word?

"And they're staying at the hotel right across the street from my apartment."

I nodded, still a bit lost. "What does this have to do with me?"

He looked out the window at the falling snow, clearly avoiding eye contact with me. Outside, pedestrians waddled around in their puffy winter coats and snow boots. The occasional car drove by. Although the weather was about as crappy as it could get, the people of Aspen, Colorado were still their normal, peppy selves. Smiles and rosy cheeks shone on all faces.

I grinned. Seeing Len so flustered made me feel oddly satisfied. "My coffee is gonna get cold before you finish this thought, Len."

He rolled his eyes. "My parents are coming into town, and they think I have a date to Lily's wedding."

Oh, _now_ my interest had peaked. My grin grew; he had dug himself into a huge hole. "And why," I began snidely, "would they ever think that?"

"Because I told them I had a girlfriend, okay?" He admitted, finally making eye contact with me. "Lily's getting married and the closest thing I have to a girlfriend is that weird girl who always stares at me in Chemistry."

I let out a laugh. I couldn't help myself. "Well, Len. You're in some deep shit. And Gumi is actually really nice," I added. "She's almost as single as you, ya know."

He was much less amused. "I need a date to Lily's wedding."

"Why don't you ask Miku? She'd love to."

He shook his head. "My parents would hate her."

"Why?"

"She's too… energetic. They'd see her bouncing into the room and immediately assume she's on drugs or something."

"Luka? She's chill."

He shook his head again. "She's too quiet. My Mom would talk her ear off. I'd be surprised if Luka could sit through a wedding at all, let alone one with an emotional mother leaning on her shoulder the whole time."

I thought for a second. "Well, jokes aside, I really do thing Gumi-"

"Rin," he interrupted. "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend for the week."

His bluntness caught me off guard. "What?"

His cheeks burned red. And not from the cold. "It won't be a big deal, I just need you to go to the wedding stuff with me. And hang out with me and my parents. And…" He trailed off again.

I was still trying to absorb this situation. "And…?"

"And, if it's not _too_ weird, could you possibly… move in for the week?" The second the sentence left his mouth, he began talking a million miles a minute. "My parents would think it's weird if I wasn't living with my girlfriend. You could crash in my room, and I'll take the couch. It's no big deal. And I'll leave you alone and stuff, like you could use the bathroom in there and the tv in there and everything. And it's just for a week." He stopped to take a deep breath. "Please."

"I-I mean…" it's not like we weren't close enough friends to go through something like this. We had been in surprisingly weird situations together. "If it's only for a week, then yeah. I could probably do that."

His expression lit up like a child in front of a candy store. "Really?" He exclaimed, sounding like himself again.

I nodded. "Yeah, I could do that. Save some grocery money I guess." I felt a bit weird about the whole thing, but, honestly, what did I have to lose? I didn't have anything else going on during winter break anyway.

He leaned back in his chair, nearly knocking over his coffee as his threw his arms into the air in triumph. "Rin, you have no idea how much you're helping me out right now."

I smiled. The memory of Len's mother screaming at Lily for going prom dress shopping without her popped into my mind. "I think I do." I took a sip of my coffee. Still pretty warm. "So when did you say your parents were flying in?"

"I'm picking them up from DIA tomorrow at five. And… you should probably come with me."

I nodded. "Alright. When should I bring my stuff to your apartment?"

He grabbed his jacket of the chair behind him. "Do you want to go grab it now?"

"Sure."

"Awesome."

We gathered up our things and left our beloved table, coffee in hand. He held the door open for me as I stepped into the freezing wonderland that was Aspen.

"For real, though," Len spoke as we started down the snowy sidewalk. "This is a huge weight off my shoulders. Thank you."

"It's not a huge deal." I pulled my scarf up over my mouth. I turned to look at him. "You just owe me one."

He smiled at my teasing, and blinked a few snowflakes out of his eyelashes. I could see the relief in his bright blue eyes.

"How long is this gonna be 'till?" I asked.

"They leave the day after the wedding. Sunday."

I nodded. "Just one week."

He laughed. "Don't get too excited, now."

"Hey," I joked. "You're the one who took twenty minutes asking me to be your fake-girlfriend."

He took a sip of his coffee. "Because it's awkward! I'm not saying that I'm dreading this week."

"Oh," I grinned. "You're saying you're excited to spend every waking moment with me for the next week?"

He laughed. "Sure am, _honey."_

I cringed. "Okay, okay. Too weird, too soon."


	2. Saturday

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Oh come on. You can't get cold feet now."

We were halfway to the airport, just exiting the Colorado Foothills towards Denver. We still had about an hour's drive to the airport.

I stared out the window and the white landscape in front of me. The closer we got to the airport, the faster my heart fluttered. "I just… why can't you tell them that you lied?"

"Because, Rin. I can't be the disappointment child."

"Disappointment child? Are you shitting me?" I shot Len a baffled look. "Your GPA is higher than I thought was possible."

"Yeah, but…" he rubbed his left temple, a nervous tick he formed in high school. "I don't have a life. I study, I work, I read. I don't leave the house." He kept his eyes trained on the road ahead of him. "I don't meet people. I don't go out."

"You don't need to meet people. You already have people."

He paused, then sat up from his slouched state. "If you changed your mind, then I'll have to admit that I lied. I don't expect you to do this-"

"I'll do it." I concluded, more to myself than to him. "I won't leave you in that shitty situation."

"I just don't want this to be weird. Like, I don't want it to ruin us being friends, or anything."

That made me smile. "We've been through weider."

"I guess." I could hear the slight smile in his voice.

We fell silent. The only noise filling the car was the faint country radio, and the slushing sound of tires spinning through the wet snow outside. The highway was devoid of cars, at least, compared to usual Denver traffic. We were driving through the industrial district. Clouds of smoke billowed out of the spouts of factories, and it disgusted me. I felt a sudden longing for home, because, even though Aspen was nearly as crowded, there were no polluting factories, and the air smelled like home. Here, it smelled like trash.

It seemed an eternity before we finally pulled off of the highway, and headed towards the parking garage. Rows upon rows of shining cars filled the lots, awaiting their owners return from all over the world. We drove up the levels, until we finally found an empty spot on the top floor.

"Do we have to walk all the way down?" I asked as I stepped out of the car. I slung my purse over my shoulder as I breathed in the city air. We were pretty far from downtown, and the factories, but I could still smell the dirty air. I began counting down the moments before we could leave and return to my pure mountains.

"No," he answered. "There's an entrance up here. They're meeting us at gate twelve."

"What floor is that on?"

"Scared of a few stairs?" He teased.

As much as it comforted me to have Len's cocky self back, as opposed to yesterday's shy self, I was slightly annoyed at his comment. "Just tell me the floor, Len."

"It's on the top one. The one we're on."

Relief flashed through me. "Oh."

"Rin, I'm telling you now, you don't have to do this."

"But I want to."

He locked the car, and we started toward the main building. "Then why are you acting all pissed off?"

I hesitated, taking in my surrounding. The airport was more crowded than the highways; likely because of the winter-breakers coming to town for their seasonal skiing. "I hate the city."

He nodded in understanding. "Me too." He put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "We'll be home soon enough."

"Right."

The building was warm. But from the buildings heating, or the plethora of bodies packed in it's walls, I couldn't tell. A sign with the big numbers '12' hung over the entrance to a boarding platform. All the seats in front of it were filled.

Len gave his temple a quick rub. "Well… let's just find a corner to stand in."

We leaned against the wall directly across from the exit. My heartbeat began to quicken again as I realized how soon Len's parents would be coming through those doors. For a fleeting moment, I wondered how I would feel if I actually _were_ his girlfriend. I imagined it couldn't be much different.

"So, uh," Len spoke up. I could barely hear his soft voice over the people around us. "We're going to need to, um, act _coupley._ "

I smirked. "Coupley?"

"Yeah. Like, hugging and kissing and shit."

I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. Whether from his nervousness, or my nervousness, or a combination of both, I didn't know. "Hugging and kissing and shit," I repeated.

He softly laughed along with me. "Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not," I lied.

And then, out of nowhere, in the midst of our laughing, someone threw their arms around me in a welcoming hug, that didn't feel so welcome at the time. I tensed up, my laughing ceasing immediately.

"Oh!" An older woman's voice rang out. "It's so good to see you, Rin!"

The fact that Len's mother had hugged me before him was funny, when I thought about it later. At the time, however, I was very confused, and wished nothing more than to be away from the lady who smelled like wine and cheap perfume.

"Hey, ma," Len greeted. "Hey dad."

Len's father pulled him into a bear hug. "Son."

Len's mother, Emily, I barely remembered her name, finally released me. "I'm so excited to see you guys! Oh, this week is going to be amazing."

I gave Len a nervous look. He met my gaze over his father's shoulder as he hugged him. We shared an unspoken agreement that Emily had been drinking. _Oh, this should be good._

Len's father, Mike, put hand on her back. "Let's just get you to the hotel to rest and adjust to the altitude." He turned his attention to me, and gave me a warm smile while holding out his hand. "It's nice to see you."

I didn't want to take his hand, I had always had large personal space bubble, but I didn't really have a choice. The whole situation had made me uncomfortable, what harm could this do? I took his hand. "Nice to see you to," I said, feigning a smile.

Len took a step closer to me. "Let's get your bags," he told his parents.

Emily waved her hand dismissively. Her long blonde hair swayed with every movement she made. "We didn't have our bags checked. Too much effort."

 _Oh thank God._

"In that case, let's head to the car. You guys are staying at the Motel 8, right?" Len confirmed, leading us away from the crowd of people streaming in through the loading deck. I felt a sudden uncomfortable itch all over my skin. There were _way_ too many people in here.

"Yes, I think so," Emily confirmed, leaning on her husband.

My head turned back and forth as I scanned the room around me. I didn't like being here at all. The reunited family continued their greetings as my breathing began to speed up, and I walked faster and faster through the terminal.

"Not a fan of crowds, huh, Rin?" Mike's voice brought me out of my frantic haze. Len, who had been mid sentence, paused to look at me. He stood to my right, while his parents walked on my left.

"I, uh…" I was at a lost for words. "No. I don't."

And then, in possibly the weirdest motion I have ever seen, Len slowly and very visibly slipped his hand in to mine. Holding hands was an act almost too intimate for me to handle, but it was a gentle reminder of the week to come. The oddest part of it all, however, wasn't the unfamiliar feeling of his skin on mine, or the burning gaze of his parents, or the intrusion of my personal bubble, but the comforting feeling his small act gave me.

"Looks like we need to get you back home too, then," he concluded. Our eye contact felt odd, too. Almost like the hand holding.

I nodded, unable to do much else.

"What do you man, overbooked?" Len exclaimed at the clerk. I had long relaxed since our return to Aspen, but Len's tensions seemed to have only escalated since our arrival at the motel. We stood at the counter as Len's parents lounged on the couches behind us.

"I'm sorry sir, what did you say the name was?"

"Kagamine," Len insisted, rubbing his temple. "Len Kagamine."

The clerk shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. We don't have a room under that name."

"But I called you guys last week," he continued. "I paid for this whole week. I have the receipt somewhere, I know I do."

"Len!" Emily called. "Where's our room?" You'd think she would have sobered up by now.

He shook his head, and walked away from the desk to meet his parents. I turned to the clerk, who looked as uninterested as ever.

"How long had this place been booked?" I asked him innocently.

"Our last room was rented out last night." He stifled a yawn, and ran a hand through his black hair to get at a scratch.

"He called last week. I was with him."

He rolled his eyes. "Do you have the reciept to prove it?"

I glared at him for a moment, before turning my back as well. Len was trying to explain the situation to his parents.

"That guy's an a-" I began, before the parents' eyes locked on me. "-awful employee," I finished.

"How are we going to find a hotel in the middle of ski season in Aspen?" Mike questioned.

Len gave me a look that told me he had an idea. "I mean," he suggested. "You guys could always stay with us."

My eyes widened. _Oh no._

Emily, however, nearly sprung out of her seat. "Oh!" She yelled. "Some bonding time!" She traversed around the coffee table, and put a hand on each of my shoulders. "I just _knew_ you two were going to realize how perfect for each other you were eventually," she beamed. I felt my cheeks grow hot. "Ever since that first track meet your ninth grade year. I could just _tell._ You could call it a mother's intuition."

"Ma," Len called, although I could tell by his expressions that he was enjoying this embarrassment. "Let's go home."

Although I'd been in Len's apartment only the night before, the place felt oddly small and confining. Len's parents threw their bags onto the couch, and I'm almost certain Emily was asleep before she even landed on the couch. Mike just laughed at his wife, and sat on the floor in front of her with the tv remote in his hand. He didn't say a word as he turned in ESPN, and leaned against the couch.

I could understand their exhaustion. Flown in all the way from Florida, been rejected by a hotel clerk… it was already nearly eleven o'clock at night. I was ready to hit the hay, too.

Len and I left his parents in the living room, ("They'll make themselves at home," he'd assured me) and veered to the left toward his bedroom.

"So, there goes sleeping on the couch," he told me in a quiet voice after he'd shut the door to the living room.

I shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"I'll sleep on the floor if you want-"

"No, that's okay. We can just make, like, a mountain of pillows between us or something. I don't really care."

"Alright."

I quickly thought of how lucky Len was to have such a huge bed to himself. That thing was like a cloud, and a king-sized cloud, at that. His bed sat against the wall opposite of the door, centered in it. His tv hung on the wall next to the door, and the bathroom door was to the right of the bed. A pretty basic setup, but one I could get used to.

My bags were scattered on the right side - my side, I guess - of the bed. I unzipped them and pulled out some pajamas as Len jumped into his bed.

I closed myself in the bathroom to change, admiring the expensive tiling on the floor and walls. Len was living a pretty lavish lifestyle for a college student, I realized. The bathtub was more of a hot tub, with a separate shower built with frosted glass walls. He had a double sink, and a huge mirror. _Probably spends a lot of time looking at himself,_ I joked mentally.

I walked out of the bathroom in my pajamas to find him suddenly changed as well. Like his father, ESPN was playing on the tv.

"Since when are you into sports?" I asked, throwing my clothes onto my bags in the corner.

"I'm not," he admitted. "At least, not playing them. I like watching them sometimes."

The tv showed two newscasters talking about the lineup of some sports team. "But they're not even playing."

He shrugged. "Do you have anything better to watch?"

"Gimme this thing," I said as I planted myself on the bed and gabbed the remote from him. The channels were pretty bare, except for - "-The Goonies!"

He furrowed his brow at the. "The what now?"

My jaw dropped. "Don't tell me you've never seen the Goonies."

He shook his head. "Sounds like a made-up disease."

"Don't you disrespect the greatest movie of the 80's like that. I will kick your ass."

He laughed. "Let's watch it then."

I clicked on it, and sat cross-legged on his bed as the screen changed to Chunk smashing his milkshake against the glass walls of the arcade.

My eyes lit up. "It's just starting, too!"


	3. Sunday

"Kids!" There was pounding on the door. "Kids, wake up!"

I rolled over, blinking my heavy eyes open. I almost jumped when I realized I was mere inches away from Len, who was still sound asleep.

It took me a moment to remember my situation. It was Emily who was calling through the door; must have sobered up by now. The curtains were much thicker than I imagined, I realized. If Emily had not woken me up, I would have slept all day. There was no sign of sunshine in the room whatsoever, but Len's clock read 9:26 a.m.

"M-Morning!" I called, unsure whether to call her Emily, or Mrs. Kagamine, or whatever-the-fuck else.

"Ah, Rin. I knew I'd wake you first," she called. I wondered briefly why she didn't just walk in with a bucket of ice water or something, and then I was hit with the somewhat-uncomfortable realization that the door was probably locked.

"Yeah, I'm awake. Len's still fast asleep, though."

I heard her sigh. "He'd sleep next to a blaring train horn. Wake him up for me, dear! Let's go out for brunch!" Her footsteps notified me that she had retreated from the door.

I sat up, looking around the room. Len was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, as if he was skydiving. It actually looked pretty funny.

"Hey," I said softly. "Wake up."

He snored away.

I gently pushed his arm. "Len. It's brunch time."

Nothing.

"Len, wake the fuck up."

I wondered for a second if he was dead. He was still breathing, though.

"Len!" I hit him again.

Still nothing.

 _Damn,_ I thought. _Really could sleep through a train._

I layed my head back down on the pillow next to him. I was in no rush. Plus, this was pretty amusing.

"Len. Len. Len. Len," I repeated as I poked him in the shoulder. I spoke a little louder with every word, but I didn't get too far before he finally took a deep breath, and stretched his arms out.

"Whaaaaaaaat," he groaned, his eyes still closed.

"Brunch time."

He froze at the sound of my voice, and his eyes snapped open. We stared at each other for an awkward second, before he relaxed again. "Sorry," he muttered. "I forgot you were here." His eyes were droopy, and his face was still soft from sleep. I couldn't help but smile at the childish way he stretched his arms before sitting up.

"It's okay," I replied. "I was pretty confused when I woke up too."

"Did you say something about food?"

"Yeah," I sat up again, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "Your mom was telling us to wake up and get ready for brunch."

I narrowed his eyes. "Brunch? There aren't any 'brunch' restaurants here."

I stood up. "We can just go to Mimi's or something."

"But that's not breakfast or lunch food."

I rolled my eyes. "I never thought you'd be so picky about food."

"Oh whatever."

We both made our way to the bathroom. I stood in front of the sink on the right, he on the left.

"Toothpaste?" I pulled my toothbrush out of the cup on the counter, and handed him his.

He pulled out the tube from his side, pretending to draw it like a revolver in an old western movie. "It's high noon," he mocked.

I laughed, more at his stupidity than his horrible joke. He loaded up both our brushes with toothpaste, and returned the tube to its drawer.

I didn't have much to change into, clothes wise, but the weather was looking much nicer than yesterday, so I decided to roll with a basic tank top and jeans. I could always bring a jacket in case it decided to dump another couple feet on us. I brushed through my hair with a few quick strokes, and tied a neat yellow bow in my hair to match my top.

I sat on the bed and waited for Len to finish getting ready to leave the safety of his room. I wasn't ready to face his parents alone yet. He had picked the same basic outfit as me; a t shirt and jeans.

He ran his hands through his hair a few times. "You ready?" He asked me.

I shrugged, and stood. "As ready as I'll ever be."

He gave me an understanding smile. "I owe you," he said. "Big time."

"Eh, we'll figure that part out later," I joked.

He chuckled. "Alright."

His parents were both seated on the couch, seemingly dressed in their fanciest clothes. If there was one thing I remember about the Kagamines, it was their determination to dress-to-impress. Their Sunday best was their every day best.

Emily stood, her lightly colored dress flowing around her. "Where are we off to?"

Len gave me a panicked look.

"There's this cafe called Mimi's," I stated, sharing his brief panic. They have some pretty good soups."

Mike stood. "I'd love some broccoli cheddar right about now."

"A cafe?" Len's mother did not try to hide her disappointment. And, if she did try, she did a horrible job at it. "Is there anywhere… classier?"

Blood rushed to my face.

"This place is one of Rin and I's favorites," Len jumped in. He put his hand on the small of my back, but I was too petrified of his mother's disapproval to notice.

That seemed to ease her a bit. "Oh? Do you guys go there often?"

"Well," he answered, using his hand to guide me toward the door. "When we can afford it."

She smiled. "Perfect! And broccoli cheddar does sound amazing, doesn't it?"

We made our way down the stairs, with Len moving his hand from my back to my hand. I was thankful for his impeccable skill in sensing when I was uncomfortable. His efforts in removing me from those situations was a godsend.

We walked to the cafe. It wasn't far, and the sun was shining bright enough to begin melting the freshly fallen snow. We weren't the only ones out today, either. Dozens of people, many of them obviously tourists, wandered around the bricked streets, taking pictures, laughing, and talking too loudly. I always tried my best to ignore Aspen's guests, but today, they were especially annoying.

"Quite a hotspot, isn't it?" Mike spoke up from behind Len and I.

"Sure is," Len answered. He'd been doing most of the talking since we left.

Len's father let out a quick breath. "Doesn't it get annoying having all these people here?"

His son shrugged. "We've gotten pretty used to it. Most people only come during the breaks, too. And I usually just stay home all break."

Emily shook her head in disapproval. "You really should try to get out more, hon."

Len didn't answer.

"What about you, Rin?" Emily asked. "You don't stay home too, do you?"

"No," I answered honestly. "I work a lot during breaks."

They both let out a laugh at that. "You work? How do you make time for school with a job?" Mike asked.

"I only have classes four days a week. I work every day after school, and on the days I have school off."

"That seemed so stressful," Emily added. "Your parents don't take care of you?"

I took a quick breath. Len shot me a helpless look, but I ignored it. "They can't afford it."

"Hm," Emily hummed. "That's a shame. But you shouldn't need to work too much, right? We already take care of the apartment."

My heart jumped. "I, uh, I actually just recently moved in, so I still have to pay off my place for another month." Not entirely a lie.

She nodded. "Ah. Well, it's nice that your lease is almost up."

I sighed. _No,_ I thought to myself. _It's really not._

We finally reached the cafe. Inside, the sound of silverware clinking, waiters rushing around, and faint piano music filled my ears. It was nice to be somewhere familiar.

"Table for four," Len told the hostess. We knew her; a fellow college student who sat near me in my psychology class. She was by no means a close friend, but she knew us well enough to lead us to our normal table in the back corner, by the window. I smiled at her gratefully, and she returned it.

"Your waiter will be right with you," she told us as she handed us menus and rushed off. I had never actually eaten here before; I'd only sat long enough to drink coffee, or I was too invested in my studying to pay attention to anything else. I didn't know what to order.

"So, Rin," Emily started again. My heart didn't even have time to drop before she began babbling. "Are you going to Lily's bachalorette party on Tuesday?"

My eyes widened. "I - uh, I didn't know about it."

She waved a hand. "That's alright. I'm sure she'd love to have you. The two of you can work out the details tomorrow during dress shopping."

I spit up my water. "Um, dress shopping?" I looked at Len for reassurance. He looked just as confused as I did.

"Of course, honey," she answered. "We need to get everyone's bridesmaid dresses."

 _Fuck,_ I thought to myself. _She's not gonna let Len go to that. No way._

"What time are we going?" I asked her, trying to regain my composure.

She took a sip of her drink. "We should probably leave around eight tomorrow morning.

 _I'll try to get excited about it._ "Sounds fun!" I said aloud.

We all ordered, ate, and left the cafe in high spirits. Well, everyone except me. The more I thought about dress shopping, the more I dreaded it.

The last time I wore a dress, it was my first day of high school, and my parents had practically held me down while they stuffed me in this stupid little pink dress. I felt like a raggedy Ann doll. There was nothing more comfortable than the jeans I changed into at school that day. Little did I know, dear old Mother and Father were planning a surprise lunch for me. I still laugh at the faces they made when they saw my replacement outfit.

And that dress hadn't even been anything fancy. This… this was something else. This was going to be hell.

"There are so many cute stores here," Emily commented as we passed through the shopping district. The particular store she was admiring was a women's clothing store with, you guessed it, dresses hanging in the windows.

"Everything is super expensive, Ma," Len informed her.

She smirked. "There's no price tag on beauty."

I couldn't help but smile at that comment, but for a completely different reason than she intended. _No, there's not. No one needs price tags to be beautiful._

We passed by a street performer. A man, probably in his mid-twenties, sitting on the sidewalk with his guitar. He was playing a familiar song, but I couldn't place the name.

"Ooh!" Emily admired. "Let's take a seat near him! I want to listen."

We found a bench, where Len's parents plopped down to watch the performer. Len and I were left unimpressed; he was talented, I'll give him that, but I saw seven people just like him every day. I scanned the area around me while they watched him with wide eyes.

Emily put her hand on Mike's. "It's beautiful," she beamed. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips.

Then they both looked at us. I tensed up.

Len did too. "Yeah," he spat out, sounding almost robotic. "It is."

He looked at me, and leaned in. I panicked. I didn't know what else to do, so I turned my head away from him, and he landed a firm kiss on my reddening cheek. As a last ditch effort to make this look better, I forced a smile. His parents looked away. They seemed satisfied, I guess.

When they weren't paying attention, I gave Len a shy look. He met my nervous gaze with a sympathetic one. _I'm sorry,_ he seemed to be saying.

A breeze picked up, and I instinctively looked back toward the performer and moved toward him. Anything to break this uncomfortable eye contact, and assure his parents of our obvious 'undying love.'

We sat there watching the performer for way too long, and his parents didn't even leave the guy a tip. I felt guilty, but kept walking. _I'm having one of those days too, man._ I thought.

The rest of the day was spent practically begging Emily to let me remain a bystander while she shopped in every store in town. Her requests of 'Just try this one thing on!' were unending, and I took it as a preparation battle for tomorrow's war.

Len at least looked like he was having a bit more fun than me. Watching him and his Dad catch up was pretty heartwarming; I'd occasionally catch a glimpse over a mountain of clothes in my arms at the two of them sharing a laugh. As crazy as Len's parents seemed to be, they were still his parents. And he still seemed pretty happy to have them around.

Without those thoughts, I probably would have dropped all of Emily's stupid, expensive bags halfway through the first store and walked out. But I stayed.

The sun was setting when we finally decided to head back home. I had dozens of bags hung on my arms, many of them unwelcome gifts from Len's insistent mother, but at least we were heading home.

"Let me carry some," Len offered.

"No," I said. "I've got it."

Behind me, Mike laughed. "Stubborn. Fits right in, huh son?"

For the first time since I'd ever met that man, I actually smiled at one of his jokes.

Len wasn't as amused. "Those look heavy."

"Nah," I said between breaths. I tried to make it seem like I wasn't fighting for air under all this weight, but it was nearly impossible. Whatever was in these bags, it was fucking heavy.

So Len just started grabbing bags off my arms. And I didn't fight him.

I was surprised to see the street performer in the same spot as we passed back the way we came. I thought for a moment, and then placed all my remaining bags on the ground before digging through my pockets. Len gave me a confused look, while his parents acted like I was committing a crime against humanity by holding up the nearly-empty sidewalk, but I finally fished a ten out of my pocket. I had kind of hoped I had a five instead, but I wasn't going to leave this poor guy with nothing. With the bill in hand, I hopped over and threw the ten in his open guitar case. The man, who was still playing his same melodic tunes, gave me a thankful nod and a smile behind his heavy beard. I nodded in return, and ran back to my bags.

"The charitable type," Emily commented. "I appreciate that in a person, Rin." She kept talking as we continued our walk home. After a pause, she admitted: "I do wish I saw more of that in myself."

I shrugged. "It's the least I could do. We enjoyed his music for so long, might as well give him something in return."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Len shoot me a smile.

After finally returning home, and separating all of my new things from Emily's, I was finally able to put a wall between me and the exhausting fake-parents-in-law.

"I'm sorry," Len said as soon as I closed the door.

I set my shopping bags down next to the rest of my stuff in the corner. At least I didn't have to worry about clothes anymore. "For what?"

Len stood in front of the door rubbing his temple. "For the whole… kiss thing."

I let out a deep breath, and turned to face him. I was too exhausted to be embarrassed by this conversation again.

"I know it was probably too far, but I was just trying to make the whole thing look credible to my parents. And I shouldn't have; making you so uncomfortable isn't worth-"

I closed the distance between us in three steps, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and pulled his lips to mine in one motion. He froze, clearly taken by surprise, before naturally resting his hands on my hips. The smell of his cologne surrounded me, and the feel of his arms around me felt oddly… natural. I let the warm feeling of his lips on mine remain for only a few moments, before pulling back.

"There," I concluded, holding my hands up. "Now, it's not awkward." I took a step back, and broke all contact between us. Surprisingly, it didn't make me feel better.

He stared at me with a blank expression for a few seconds. He blinked, and let his hands fall back to his sides. "Yeah," he agreed. "Not awkward at all."

I grabbed my pajamas and fled into the bathroom. Nothing to clear my head like a hot shower.

When I emerged a few minutes later, he was lounging on the bed, changed as well. I dried my hair with a towel as I sat down. "What we watching tonight?"

"I dunno," he answered casually.

 _There,_ I thought. _NOW it's not awkward._ "I picked last night. It's your turn."

"Hm," he flipped through the channels. "Movie or show?"

I shrugged. "Let's stick with movies."

He flipped through the movie channels. " _She's the Man?_ "

"That movie's so dumb."

" _Paranormal Activity_?"

"I can't watch horror movies."

He laughed. "Scared?"

"Yup," I answered confidently. "Not even gonna lie. I'm a pussy."

"Ooh," he cooed at the screen. " _Avatar_?"

"Is that the one with the blue monkey things?"

He gave me a dumbfounded look. "Don't tell me you've never seen the most amazing thing James Cameron has ever created."

I laughed. "Yes, Len. I _have_ seen _Titanic."_

"Psssh. Avatar is so much better than that sappy love crap."

My jaw dropped in mock offense. "How _dare_ you disrespect DiCaprio like that."

He clicked on the movie. "Well, I'll let you judge after we watch this masterpiece."

I rolled my eyes, my smile refusing to leave. "Whatever you say."


	4. Monday

_Heyyyyy guess who's not dead._

 _Also, guess who finished this entire story this week?_

This morning, it wasn't knocking that woke me up. It was the quiet sound of my phone vibrating around the bedside table. I groaned, and grabbed at it. There was a text from Len's mother.

- _Wakey Wakey, sunshine! Time for shopping!_

I let the phone drop back onto the table. Len was still snoring next to me. I looked over at him, but his back was to me. There was no way the little vibrations woke him up, anyway. His clock read 6:30. I hung my head, and grabbed my phone again.

 _Morning, Emily! What time are we leaving?_ I asked her.

- _8 AM, sharp! :)_ She replied almost instantly.

 _Great,_ I responded. _I'll be out around then._ I set the phone back down, and rested my head back on the pillow. Did this woman really take an hour and a half to get ready? I'd wake up at 7:45 and be ready to walk out the door by 7:50. I let my heavy eyes shut once more.

I let out a deep sigh in my sleep, imagining the day ahead of me. I had no idea who Lily's other bridesmaids were. Hell, I hadn't even seen the wife-to-be in almost a year. I felt a sudden nostalgic memory of sitting at my vanity, sixteen years old, unsure if I had been invited to this high school party genuinely, or as a prank. As much as Len and Miku had told me otherwise, I'm convinced that I was generally disliked in school. Still am, too. My personality is just… a little too rough for most people, I guess. I was like a grumpy bear waking up from hibernation.

I opened my eyes again. _Might as well get an early start,_ I thought, pushing the covers off of me. I stretched my tense muscles, and my eyes fell on the clock.

7:59, it read.

I almost screamed. I jumped up, dove into the discarded bags of clothes Emily had bought me the day before, and tore them open. A pair of leggings flashed into my vision - I grabbed them and pulled them over my legs, almost forgetting to take off my pajama pants first. My favorite white winter jacket hung on the bedpost. I grabbed it, pulling it over my pajama shirt, grabbed my phone, wallet, and keys, and opened the door.

I must have looked like I felt, because Len's Mom gave me an odd look from the kitchen. She held a coffee pot full of dark goodness, and was pouring it into two cups for us. Mike still snored away on the couch. I couldn't imagine how; sunlight was pouring in through the windows behind the television. They had to be shining directly into his eyes.

"Morning, dear," Emily said, her voice full of strained enthusiasm. "Are you… feeling well?"

I ran my hands through my messy hair. "Yeah," I assured her. "I'm just not used to waking up this early."

She let out a laugh. "I understand. I was the same way when I was your age. The world was dead to me until 10 am every day." She handed a cup to me. "Here ya are, hon."

I gingerly plucked the cup for her hand. Try as I might, I couldn't keep my hand from shaking as I put the cup to my lips. Nothing like a debilitating coffee addiction to start the day.

I felt Emily watching me, and grew uncomfortable. "So, um, where's the bridal shop?"

Emily lit up like a candle flame. "It's just down Mainstreet! We could walk there, if you'd like."

I took another look out the window. The sun was shining, but that didn't mean it was particularly warm. Especially at 8 in the morning. "We could," I agreed. I tugged at the zipper of my coat. "But you should probably bring a jacket, just in case."

She dismissively waved a hand at me. "Oh, I will! Don't you worry!"

She didn't.

We had barely exited the building before the complaining started. "Ah, I don't know how you two do it! Florida is _so_ much nicer. You never have to worry about whether it's going to be warm in the evening, or snow!" Emily held her arms to her chest as we walked. She had dressed herself in a fashionable pair of jeans, with a long sleeve sweater. _Could be worse_.

"It's nice, though. I like the snow," I answered.

She looked at me like I had admitted to killing a litter of kittens. "You _like_ it? How could anyone like it?"

I grinned at her astonishment. "It's just so peaceful."

"But driving in it is awful."

"Yeah, it is. But me and Len mostly walk everywhere in Aspen anyway, so we don't have to worry about that."

"But didn't it snow a few feet the day before we flew here? You guys had to drive all the way past Denver!"

I chuckled a bit, trying to hide it behind my hand as to not offend her. "Oh, that was nothing compared to what we've gotten before. Plus, Lens a really good driver. You don't have to worry about him."

She sighed. "I just wish you two would come stay near us. We would love having you around."

I smiled. As far as I could remember, that was probably the nicest thing she has ever said to me. "He wishes you guys were closer, too. I know he does."

"Where will you two go after college?"

 _Ah shit._ I thought to myself. The part I had been dreading: making up stories. I didn't want to tell her we'd move to Florida for several reasons. First, because I would never be able to live somewhere so hot, and second, because she would be disappointed when me and Len stage our break up. I didn't want to tell her we would stay here, because she would be disappointed right away. Which was better, now,or later?

These thoughts went through my head at lightning speed. Emily stared at me expectantly. I had no choice but to choose, what I thought, would be the lesser of two evils.

"I could see us going down to Florida."

She grinned. "Oh, Rin, you'd love it! The palm trees are wonderful, the seafood is _amazing_ , and the beach! Well, don't even get me started…"

I smiled, but spaced out to her loving speech.

"... It's this one, right here!" She brought me out of my head with a point of her finger.

We stood before a small shop with mannequins on either side of the door, each flaunting an exquisite (and expensive) wedding dress. A cursive sign over the door read "Aspen Bridal." Inside, I saw a group of girls surrounding a familiar blonde. I smiled. I hadn't seen Lily in years, it felt like. She had always been my favorite in Len's family.

"Oh, darn it! We're late!" Without warning, Emily grabbed my wrist, and dragged me through the front door.

A bell chimed as we walked in. A sea of white appeared before me, with racks of dresses so close together that I almost felt suffocated by them. There were a few racks of colorful dresses, reds, pinks, yellows, blues, even black, and they definitely stood out.

Lily, who was preoccupied with the employee helping her, did not see us walk up until Emily tapped her on the shoulder. I didn't recognize any of the other girls.

She turned around. "Momma!" She yelled, leaping into her arms. My heart warmed. I realized that this must be the first time they've seen each other in a while.

"Oh, honey, you look wonderful!" She cooed, tightly hugging her daughter.

She did. She was wearing her wedding gown. It was a classic white dress with intricate lacings on the bodice, with smooth fabric falling tightly down to the floor. It was called a column wedding dress, I had overheard Emily telling her husband. I thought it was beautiful. Those big, poofy ball gowns had always been a bit too flashy for me.

Lily let go of her mother and glanced in my direction. She grinned. "Rinny! Come here."

I gave her a quick hug. My face grew slightly red under the stare of the unfamiliar faces. Lily, like her brother, was adept in sensing tension the second it appeared in the air. She smiled comfortingly at me, and gestured to the girls around her. There were three of them.

"This," she began, putting her hand on the shoulder of the short girl to her right. "Is Mayu. I met her working in Japan. Would _never_ have lived through it without her."

Mayu laughed. I stared with widened eyes at the ends of her platinum blonde hair; they were dyed different colors, like the rainbow. _I wish I could pull that off._

"You would have done fine," she joked back. She had a heavy accent. Her mouse-like expression was formed into a smile.

Lily only shook her head in response. "This is Meiko," she introduced the girl to her left.

Meiko seemed to be the complete opposite of Mayu. She was much taller than Lily, which is really saying something, with short brown hair. She had much sharper features.

"Nice to meet you." Meiko waved. Her voice wasn't nearly as high as Mayu's, either. "I'm Dillon's sister."

I nodded wordlessly, giving her a mile in response. Dillon, I assumed, was Lily's husband-to-be.

"And last, but certainly not least, this is Ia." Lily hugged the last girl, another platinum, but this one with pink highlights, as she introduced her. "My bestie since grade school. And my Maid of Honor."

I waved again, realizing I should probably finally say something. "I'm Rin. I'm-" I choked on my words a little bit. "I'm Len's girlfriend."

The girls looked at Lily in minor confusion. "My brother," she explained, without them having to ask.

I blushed again. They seemed nice enough, but I still felt like I was making an ass out of myself. _Ugh, Len so owes me for this._

"Well, girlies," Emily chimed in. "Let's get to dress shopping!"

Len groaned in his sleep. He turned away from the window, and, in his unconscious state, reached an arm out for… something. He felt along the covers, frustrated he couldn't find what he was looking for. His hand relaxed as he sighed and opened his eyes. As he slowly blinked the sleep away, he withdrew his hand back to his side of the bed in realization of what, or, really, _who_ he had been searching for. Running a hand through his messy hair, he sat up and stretched his legs over the side of the bed. If Rin had been there when he had been basically groping that side of the bed… he shook his head and stood, both embarrassed of and confused about his groggy actions.

It was already eleven in the morning. That's why Rin wasn't there. She was busy trying on dresses with his mother, Lily, and whoever she decided to bring.

He felt a pang of guilt, but was slightly amused at the sight of Rin in a dress. He couldn't even remember the last time she had worn one.

The bathroom seemed much larger to Len than it had been before. His toothbrush sat on the counter to the left. When he grabbed it, and turned on the faucet, the noise that filled the bathroom seemed almost deafening. Has his apartment always been this quiet?

 _Of course it has,_ he thought, still unable to understand, or unable to accept, why his room suddenly felt so unfamiliar.

After brushing his teeth, Len opened the door into the living room. He jumped at the sight of his Dad sitting on the couch, watching sports.

"Oh, hey Dad," he greeted, making his way to the kitchen.

Mike looked over his shoulder. "Hey kid. You always wake up this late?"

With his back to his Dad, Len silently cursed himself. "Uh, no. I have early classes on Mondays, usually." A lie.

"Oh. Why not today?"

There was already coffee brewed. _Did Rin make it, or did Mom make it? Mom just doesn't do it right…_ He was all-too familiar with Rin's coffee making skills. More often than not, he woke up mid-text to her telling her bring him a thermos for their classes. Len decided to take his chances, and poured himself a cup.

"Len?"

He took a sip, and his nose crinkled in disgust. He swallowed the sip like a tablespoon of cough medicine as he dumped the rest of the cup, and the pot, down the sink. "It's winter break."

"Have you been studying?"

Len took a deep breath. The kitchen reeked of coffee that wasn't Rin's, and his Dad had a sudden interest is helicopter-parenting. _You have a higher GPA than I thought was possible,_ she had said to him.

"I don't really need to," Len said with a shaky voice.

Mike didn't respond for a few moments. "Why not?"

"I have a 4.1 GPA, Dad." Len looked over his shoulder at his father.

Mike nodded, still staring at the television. "Do you think you'll make valedictorian?"

Len couldn't help it. He laughed. "What does it matter?"

His father finally turned to him. "What does it matter?" He repeated, standing. Len's heart starting racing. "It matters so you can be successful." He was dressed in a suit already. _Please, please, please let that mean he's leaving,_ Len thought to himself.

"I'll be fine."

"Me and your mother can't support you forever."

"Yeah, Dad, I know. I just don't need to be number one to be… happy." He thought of Rin again. _You don't need to meet people. You already have people._

Mike sighed. "I know. I just want you to do something with your life."

Len couldn't look him in the eye. He said nothing. He could feel his father's gaze burning right through him.

With a sigh, Mike picked his jacket up off the couch. "I'm meeting a friend in Vail. I'll be back tonight. Probably late. Have Rin fix up something for your mother, okay?"

Len nodded, staring disdainfully at the floor. He didn't move until long after the front door was shut behind his father. Once again, he was painfully aware of how quiet the room was. In his head, he turned over what his father had told him, but could only sympathize with Rin's words of advice from days earlier. He was trying his best. And his best was pretty good. It was.

The pockets of Len's pajama pants were devoid of his phone. His bare feet slid across the floor back to his bedroom, where it lay on the side table. The bedroom was much darker than the living room, and Len had to adjust his eyes to the change. Every hour was midnight in this room. Those $80 curtains were so worth it.

Len sat down on his bed, scrolling through his phone. Rin's name appeared in his message history.

 _Dude. My day might be almost as shitty as yours -_ The second his fingers finished tapping the screen, he set his phone down on the bed next to him, waiting impatiently. His phone rang almost immediately with a reply from her. It was a picture, taken from what looked like a hiding spot between towering racks of dresses, of his mother carrying a mountainous pile of dresses of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. Her face wasn't visible underneath it.

 _Doubt it -_ she captioned it. Despite himself, Len laughed.

 _Just try them all on so you can come home -_ He responded. He reread the message several times, like he would reread a word that seemed to be spelled incorrectly. The feeling of his sleepy arm draped across the bed in search of her popped into his head, and he flushed red.

 _Len, it will be HOURS -_ she responded. There was a sigh of relief in the otherwise silent room.

 _Please? Could really use some company right now._ \- Len let himself fall back on the bed, and closed his eyes.

 _Please? Could really use some company right now._

My alarm was immediately set off. I stared at my phone, and glanced over in Emily's direction. She was still looking for me, asking Lily and the others where I had run off too. I wouldn't have minded trying on a few more dresses. But Lily had settled on a set of light pink dresses for all the bridesmaids hours ago. If Emily told me to try on one more dress "to get an idea for my own wedding" one more time, I was going to explode. But Len had just given me a newfound determination to get out of this damn shop.

I emerged from the racks, heading straight toward Emily in the back of the store. The others were fluttering in and out of the dressing rooms. I couldn't tell if they were enjoying this, or if they were as miserable as I was, and just better at hiding it.

"Emily," I called to get her attention.

She was sitting in one of the chairs next to the dressing rooms. "Oh, there you are honey! Where did you run off to?"

My brain worked quicker than I had ever witnessed. "Len called me. He's not feeling well. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to head back to the apartment."

Emily's eyes widened with worry. "He isn't feeling good? Oh, no." She rose a hand to her forehead, as if she were wiping away a sweaty brow. "You don't think it's the flu, do you? By God, the wedding is only a few days away!" She stood, waving her hands widely at Rin. "Go, go. Make sure my boy is okay. We'll be here."

 _If there is a God up there, thank you._ "Alrighty. I'll see you later tonight." I raised my voice towards the dressing rooms. "Lily! Mayu! Ia! Meiko! Thank you guys! I need to head off! I'll see you tomorrow!"

A chorus of "Bye!"'s rang out from behind me as I nearly sprinted out of the store.

When I arrived, the front door was unlocked. Len's dad had run off somewhere, and the lingering scent of coffee wafted through the air. "Len?" I called, heading toward his room.

Of course, he was asleep. Just like I left him. Except now, he lay across his bed instead of on his own side. I chuckled softly, before throwing my purse and jacket on the ground and sitting on my side.

"Hey, dude." I poked him in the arim. "What's going on?"

He shifted a bit, but didn't wake up.

"Len!" I shouted.

The blonde boy rolled over, and reached an arm out. I chuckled, and grabbed his wrist. "Len, wake up."

Suddenly, he sat up quicker than I have ever seen him move. I let go of his wrist, and he turned to look at me.

"Hey," he greeted sleepily.

"Do you ever do anything except sleep?" I joked.

He frowned. Uh oh. I must have said something wrong. He didn't respond.

"Um, are you okay?"

He shook his head. "Just my dad being a dick, is all. Getting on my case again."

I nodded in understanding. "Where is he?"

"Vail."

"Vail? Why?"

He shrugged. "He said he was meeting some friend."

"In _Vail?_ Does he know how far Vail is?"

"He said he wouldn't be back until late tonight."

I grinned. "You're in luck then. I'm pretty sure your mom and Lily are going out to eat after they finish at the dress shop. And I doubt they'll be finished anytime soon."

He leaned back against his pillow and reached for the remote. He seemed relieved by the news, but wore little of it on his face. I layed down next to him, very aware that whatever had happened had really upset him.

"Wanna continue our movie marathon?" He asked, not looking at me.

I shrugged. "Up to you."

"ESPN it is then." Not only was he upset, but his tone sounded almost angry. Annoyed. A mental war began in my head as to whether to address it or not. I glanced over at him. His eyes were glued to the tv, but he knew I was trying to pry. His expression was dead.

"Len, what happened?"

He shook his head and said nothing.

My eyes found the screen. Now I was getting annoyed. It wasn't fair for him to just shut me out like that.

 _Take a deep breath. You need to be patient with him._ He had said something happened between him and Mike. What could it have been? It had been a while since I had really interacted with his Dad, or even watched Len interact with him. Back in high school, they used to get on each other's nerves often, mostly about the same thing, too. In fact, it was the reason Len had asked me to put up this whole facade.

 _I can't be the disappointment child._

"You know, Len" I started, my eyes still on the tv, but completely unaware of what was on the screen. "You're, like, the coolest person I know."

I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He didn't react.

"Like, none of our friends, myself included, would have been able to graduate high school if we didn't have you."

Still no reaction.

"I mean, hell, some of us would probably be in jail if we didn't have you to keep us from doing stupid shit," I continued. "Do you remember that end-of-the-year party that one kid threw junior year? We were all going to go to that, but we all went bowling with you anyway. Remember? And then the cops showed up at the party? We would have been fucked."

He shifted a bit. He definitely remembered.

"Or when that one girl who hated Miku put drugs in her locker and tipped off security, and you barely got to her locker in time to grab them and took them home with you. You would have been so screwed if you got caught with a bag of pot." I chuckled at the memory. The only one to see it all play out was Len himself, and I never would have found out about it if he didn't call me in a panic that night. I'll never forget picking up the phone, and hearing Len desperately ask me how to get rid of drugs.

"It's just, like," I went on. "I know your parents can be hard on you and stuff, but I'm sure they don't mean in it a way to make you feel bad. And even if they do, they don't really understand how lucky they are to have you."

Len stared at the tv.

I paused. My mind was drawing a blank on what else to say. "And you sister," I played over the events of the day in my head. "She's so excited to see you. She definitely knows how awesome you are."

Nothing.

A sigh escaped me. "What I'm really trying to say, I guess, is just… don't let them bother you. I know it's hard. But you've got so many people that love you and appreciate you for the sweet person you really are that there isn't any point in dwelling on the assholes who can never be happy with anything. Okay?"

He still didn't move, but I knew he was listening, and that was all I needed. I settled more comfortably onto my pillow, and started paying attention to the tv. They were playing clips of some football game. The host was discussing a player whose name I didn't recognize, and, apparently, he had an impressive season behind him.

There was shuffling next to me, and I looked over at Len just as he shifted right next to me. He wrapped an arm over my waist, and buried his face into my side, clearly not wanting to look at me. I wondered briefly if he was crying, before resting my hand comfortingly on his back. I smiled slightly. I didn't know Len was a cuddler.

He sighed, and kicked the covers up over us. The kid was ready to go to sleep _again._ Jeez. His arm briefly left my waist as he pulled the blanket up to his chin, and went back to pulling me closer to him.

I grabbed the remote from behind him, and quietly changed the channel as I comfortingly rubbed his back with my free hand.


	5. Tuesday

_This chapter gets a little, interesting at the end. Still rated T, just, prepare for a fun_ _bachelorette_ _party._

The gentle sound of the tv played in the background of my mind as I slowly became aware and conscious. I blinked the sleep away from my eyes, mindful of the soft mattress below me and the warm, fluffy blankets over me. Len's room. Right. Not my same old raggedy blankets and broken-springed bed.

Len's sleeping self lay next to me. He was facing me, still close from his cuddling episode last night. I grinned at his dorky hair and agape mouth, a small pool of drool forming underneath him. Typical Len.

I leaned up over him, looking at his clock. It was 11 am. Wow, we slept in today. Len's parents both came home late last night, and both promptly fell asleep as well. An image of Emily laying on the couch in the same state as her son popped into my mind. I amused myself with the thought, but found it almost impossible for Emily to sleep past 6 am. I ran through my memory, trying to remember what was on today's agenda. Ah, yes. The Bachelorette Party. Oh God. Another trip I would have to make without Len.

Falling back onto the pillow, I closed my eyes. A few more z's could never hurt.

I awoke again to the bedroom door closing. Much more alert and awake this time, I immediately realized that Len had woken up and entered the living room. It was noon. Len's mother's voice rang out in the living room.

"Oh, Len, thank God. You're never going to guess what just happened." She sounded panicked. _Ah, shit._

Without hesitation, I followed him out of the room.

"What happened?" He asked groggily, turning to me as I opened the door. He smiled, his eyes still squinted almost shut from his sleep.

Emily paced in the living room. Her husband, still dressed in his pajamas, to my astonishment, stood watching her in his usual relaxed manner. "The bakery just called. They said they won't be able to prepare the cake we ordered, and wish for us to come do another tasting for new flavors."

With a furrowed brow, I spoke up. "Can't make our flavor? How do they run out of a flavor?" The kitchen floor was cold on my bare feet. Emily had misplaced my bag of coffee beans, to my minor annoyance, but I found them eventually. The coffee machine flared to life as I flipped the switch.

"I don't know, dear." Emily was out of breath. She sounded like me after climbing the stairs to my apartment. "But we did this tasting over six months ago, and Lily picked her favorite flavor, and they can't make it! I can't believe it!"

"Ma," Len chimed in, sitting on the couch next to Mike. "It's okay. Let's just go eat some cake."

Emily seemed on the verge of tears. "I can't! I have to go help Lily with the Bachelorette Party for tonight."

I poured two cups of coffee, unsure if Len's parents would want any. As I turned to place the cups on the counter, Emily looked towards me. "Oh, uh, yeah. What time is that again?" I asked.

She sighed. Oops. "It's at five o'clock, at Lily's Hotel, sweetie. I'll have her text you."

I nodded. The scalding coffee burned my lips as I took a sip.

"What about you?" Len asked, turning to his father.

I tried to find any tension in them from their scuffle the previous day, and could sense none. It was comforting.

Mike shook his head. "I've got business to do with Dillon and the groomsmen."

Len's shoulders slumped in mock disappointment. "Does that mean me?"

"Hah, no actually," his father chuckled. "Your suit is fitted and ready. The others… not so much."

"Me and Len could go deal with the cake," I chimed in, clearly to everyone's surprise. I set my cup down on the counter to let it cool.

Emily's eyes were wide, like a child's. "You'd do that?"

I shrugged. "It's free cake," I grinned. For the first time ever, Len's parents seemed amused by one of my jokes.

At first, Len seemed uninterested in the idea. But as he pondered it, he seemed to lighten up. "Yeah," he said to his parents. "I could go for some free cake."

Emily hopped over to the kitchen, throwing herself at me in a giant bear hug. "Oh, honey. Thank you thank you thank you!" She sounded like she had just one a million dollars.

Feeling a bit awkward, I patted her on the back. "It's no problem. Really…"

To my relief, she let me go. "No, it is. I'll text you the address." She turned to her son. "They wanted us to come at one thirty. Mike and I need to leave soon. You guys _will_ be able to make it, right?"

This was Emily's polite way of saying "are you sure you guys will be on time?" I nodded in response. Who would pass on free cake?

"Yeah, Ma," Len answered. He stood from the couch, making his way over to the counter, and grabbing the full cup of coffee next to mine. He leaned on the counter next to me. "We'll make it."  
She nodded. "Okay. There's nothing to worry about." She seemed to be trying to convince herself more than us. "Everything is okay." Her eyes snapped to the watch on her wrist, and she gasped. "I'm going to be late! Goodbye, honey. Len-" She pecked a kiss on his cheek. "Please, be on time." And she was off.

Len shrugged. "We'll try," he answered to the closing door.

Mike left not too long after. It was already nearing one, and the shop where we were to do our tasting was a decent walk away. I was in the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, drying my hair after my shower, when Len walked in.

"You're getting ready?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It takes time to look this hot."

He chuckled, but said nothing in response. The faucet ran next to me as he grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste.

"Len, it's like noon." I laughed.

Foam was dripping out of his mouth as he paused his brushing and looked at me. "Wah?"

The sight cracked me up. His head cocked to the side, hair sticking out around his confused face was a mouth full of foam, he looked like a blonde, rabies-infected raccoon. I snickered, before erupting into full blown laughter.

He smiled, but didn't seem to understand the source of my laughter. "Wah?" He repeated.

My hand flew to the corner of my towel as I tried to catch my breath, and then stopped, realizing that I was only a towel away from being naked, and Len was standing right next to me.

"Dude," I said, still laughing. "You think you can just come in here when I'm, like, naked?"

This really seemed to take him by surprise. Now he was the one laughing. He spit out his excess toothpaste. "The fuck are you talking about? You're… fine."

I shook my head one last time at him, flashing him an amused smile, before turning my hairdryer back on. It was too loud to talk over, so the conversation ended there.

Aspen was cold that day, too. With jeans and my white winter jacket, it wasn't too bad. Len and I set out around 1:15. We were both definitely in the mood for some free food.

"Do you think they're buying it?" I asked. Despite the cold, the streets were still filled with people; tourists, mostly.

Len walked with his hands in his hoodie pockets. "Hm?"

"Your parents. Do you think they're buying it?" The reason why this question came to mind was beyond me. I just felt I needed to know the answer.

"Oh." He shrugged. "I would assume so. If they didn't buy it, we probably would have heard about it by now."

It had only been four days since they'd arrived. To me it felt like so much longer. Living with Len just felt so… natural. I had never expected to become accustomed to this setup, but it was so real, so easy to do. And I liked it.

 _It was so nice pretending to be with him like this._

The thought came to my mind suddenly and intrusively. My eyes widened. I could feel my face flushing bright red.

I turned my head away from him as I spoke. "That's good." There was nothing else I could really say.

We walked a few steps. "Yeah. Thanks. Again."

I lowered my head, still avoiding his gaze. "Don't thank me yet, idiot. We have, like, a week left."

"Yeah, but if they believe us now, there's no reason they won't believe us until they leave."

I chuckled. My face was slowly returning to its normal shade. "Unless we 'break up.'"

I put air quotes around the words.

He said nothing. The silence itself told me that Len did not find this funny.

I finally turned to look at him. "I'm joking, dude."

He nodded. A small, insincere small formed on his face. I looked away.

"Um, what happens after that?" _Dude, what the fuck._ My conscience yelled at me in my head. _What the fuck are you doing._

Len furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

 _Stop. Stop. Don't say it. Stop._ "Like, what happens after they leave?"

He thought over this.

"I mean-" Just as he was about to say something, I interrupted him. "How are you gonna tell your parents that we aren't together after they leave? Or," I added in my snide tone. "Are we fake-dating for the rest of our lives?"

That was definitely _not_ what I meant by that question. _Nice save though, idiot._

"I didn't think that far." Was all he answered with.

I was going to push further, but my big mouth had gotten me into enough trouble. I mentally scolded myself. _Where the hell did that come from? It's not like you haven't been hanging out with his family, making him coffee every morning, sleeping in his bed, letting him walk into the bathroom when you don't have any fucking clothes on…_

My blush returned, and I avoided his gaze.

"I think this is it," he spoke up. We had walked in silence the rest of the way.

The shop in front of me looked almost identical to the dress shop of Hell from yesterday. Instead of dresses in the windows, however, there were tiers upon tiers of white, elegantly decorated cakes.

"Yeah," I responded. "Looks like the place."

The inside of the shop was just as brightly decorated as the outside. Tables were scattered everywhere, and on not a single inch of space on them was left empty. There was cake everywhere. Tiered cakes, flat cakes, cupcakes… pies? There was everything. Emily had given us the wrong directions, and we had been led to the gates of Heaven instead.

A clerk at the other end of the store ran up to us with expectant eyes.

"Uh, hi," Len, (rather charmingly) greeted. "We're here about the tasting?"

The clerk, an older man with graying hair, nodded fervently. "Kagamine?"

Len nodded.

"Ah, yes, yes. So sorry about the inconvenience, once again. Right this way."

Len waved his hand dismissively. "No worries."

The clerk led us to a room in the back of the store. Curtains took the place of the door in this white, heavenly room, with nothing inside except for two chairs and a large table. It reminded me of a fancy interrogation room, and I smiled at the picture.

Len, finally showing some emotion on his face since we left the apartment this morning, spoke up. "You excited?"

I giggled. "Free cake~" I sang as I took a seat. Len plopped himself down opposite me.

"I'll be right back with the samples. Please, make yourself comfortable." He disappeared behind the white curtain.

I was nearly jumping out of me seat. He chuckled at me. "You look like a little kid in a candy store."

"I _am_ a kid in a candy store," I reminded him.

Laughing, he looked back towards the door as the clerk came back in. He carried a silver tray with a wide array of cupcakes on it. My eyes widened at the dozen or so cupcakes, each coming in a pair, for each of us try, and each a different color, with unique frosting and topping combinations. _Yup. Definitely Heaven._

The clerk set the tray on the table, bowing slightly. "Please, just call if you need anything. I'll be up front, also, for when you'd like to place the order." He rubbed his hands nervously on his apron.

I smiled warmly at him. "Thank you! We'll be fine."

He nodded again, before briskly exiting the small tasting room.

The second he was gone, my hand was on a dainty, pink cupcake with frosting that was pink at the cupcake, and slowly swirled to white at the top.

"Mhmmm," there was a card in front of it. " _Pink Champagne,_ " I read.

Len grabbed it's pair. "How did I know you were going to pick the pink one first?"

"Hey," I waved a finger at him. "Lily is _all about_ embracing femininity," I scolded him. "She'd love it." Unwrapping the cupcake, I took a huge chomp out of it. The card did not lie, it tasted like a fruity drink more than a cake.

Len wrinkled his nose across from me. "Ugh," he set the half-eaten treat back where it was. "No thanks."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Sounded better than it is." i set my down next to his. "What next?"

"Hmm," those blue eyes of his searched the tray, before lighting up. "Dude, I _dare_ you," he lifted a cupcake to me. It was green, with what I assumed to be chocolate frosting. The placard read _Grasshopper._

"Um," I eyed it suspiciously. "Okay…" I gingerly grabbed it from him.

He noticed me pause. "Chicken?" He asked, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am t-"

Before he could finish, I leapt across the room, and shoved the mysterious cupcake right into his nose. The frosting spread across his face, and small crumbs of green cake fell from him.

"Whose chicken now?" I yelled between laughs. He flinched away from me, nearly falling back in his chair. "Hahaha, don't laugh! It'll go up your nose!"

Under his new layer of green, I could see he was laughing too. He grabbed all of the napkins from the tray in an attempt to clear his face of frosting.

"It's mint," he observed. "Not half bad."

"Ugh, mint and chocolate? Unpopular opinion, but, I'm not a fan."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll get you back for that," he warned jokingly.

"Oh," I leaned forward in my seat. "I'd like to see you _try_."

The next couple flavors were decent, but nothing special. We had almost made it all the way through the tray of german chocolate, mocha, amaretto, coconut, and chocolate chip, with only a few flavors left.

Len leaned back. He had a finger in his mouth, trying to pick out a piece of coconut from between his teeth.

"That's hot," I joked, watching him.

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Anything for you. _Babe_."

"Don't make me throw another cupcake at you."

"Just decide on one. I'm done."

"You're _done?_ With _free cake_?"

He closed his eyes, nodding.

"Hmph. Fine. I'll decide." I grabbed the cupcake on the left. It was white batter, with white frosting. Appropriate for the setting, I figured. Unwrapping and biting into it was the best experience of my life. It was white chocolate raspberry, with lightly fluffed whipped cream frosting.

"Fiss one," I grumbled through crumbs of deliciousness. "Fiss is itsh."

He raised his eyebrows at me, once again. "Good?"

I nodded viciously as I tore into this cupcake.

"Alright, fine. I'll try it."

His reaction was the same as mine. The cake had little raspberries baked into it, and the whipped cream frosting just make the whole thing seem light and fluffy, perfect for a wedding. Perfect for _Lily's_ wedding.

"Do you think she'll like it?" Len asked. Sometimes it felt like he could read my mind.

"Yes," I answered as I shoved the last of the cupcake into my mouth. "Fhe'll love it."

"Charming," he jested.

I stood. "Well," my excuse was interrupted by my swallowing the last bite. "At least I'm not digging around my teeth in front of a _lady_."

As we exited the room, he shook his head. "You're no lady."

"Well, I'd hate to have to prove it to you, but if that's what it takes-" I cut myself off, grinning.

He chuckled, but didn't respond.

We exited the cake shop a few quick minutes later. The cake had been ordered: a square, five-tiered, white chocolate raspberry cake with whipped cream frosting, to be delivered at the ranch where the wedding was to be held at noon on the wedding day. My lips curled into a grin as we left. There's nothing like the wonderful feeling of getting the chores behind you, even if that hadn't been too bad of a chore.

Next, Lily's bachelorette party.

"So, Rinny," Lily curled her legs up onto the her expensive-looking leather couch. "What are you intentions with my oh-so innocent baby brother?"

Lily, Mayu, Meiko, Ia, and I sat around the living room of her five-star hotel room. We were all dressed in our pajamas, as requested by Lily. However, the other girls definitely had a different idea of the word "pajamas" than I did. Each of them were wearing some sort of flirty outfit, Lily herself adorned a black, lace romper, while I had packed my fluffiest pair of pajama pants (the men's ones, because they were always bigger, and had pockets) with a loose-fitting tank top. I definitely did not get the "sexy" memo.

"Uh," my mind frantically searched for an answer. "I mean, he makes pretty good food."

Lily threw her head back, her blonde hair flying over the edge of the couch. The sun was just setting over the mountains through the window behind her, and she had a bottle of wine in her hand. It wasn't full.

I laughed along with her, but the other girls found it much funnier than me. In fact, they all were well into drinking away the night. I had taken some sips, but I didn't know these girls, and didn't feel comfortable getting blackout drunk tonight. Again, they did not seem to share my concern.

Ia layed on the couch next to the bride-to-be. "Oh," she laughed. "Don't even try to be protective of him now. You've been trying to get him to a party since he could walk."

"And this weekend," Lily rose her bottle in the air in triumph. "I shall finally succeed!"

I laughed. These girls were unfamiliar, but still seemed pretty cool. The intimidating aspect of them, mostly the fact that they were much older than me, was slowly passing with every drink they took. They acted just like me and Len did. Whether that meant they were immature, or meant that me and Len were extra mature, I did not know. I mentally opted for the former.

 _Or, maybe, they just know how to have fun_.

"Alright, girlies," Lily sat up. I silently prayed she wouldn't try to stand. "It's time to get to the _real_ party, here." She opened the drawer of the side-table next to her, and pulled out a small stack of papers.

I sighed as she took them out. I'd already been here, listening to "girl talk" and watching these four drink wine for almost an hour and a half. And that was, apparently, just the start.

She drunk blonde waved the papers in the air. "Scavenger Hunt!" She yelled.

 _Oh God help me._

"So," she began, setting the wine bottle down on the table and leaning forward. "My mom and I have hidden several… _interesting_ party favors around the hotel. I'll give each of you a list of everything we've hidden. Whatever you find, you keep!" She handed the papers to Ia, who handed them to Mayu, and they made their way around the room. The last paper landed in my hands.

The first item caused my face to flush red. _God help me,_ I repeated. The first item was labeled as "Fuzzy Yellow Handcuffs."

"Oh, Rin," lily must have noticed me blushing. "Tell me a college student is unfamiliar with toys for _adults_." She giggled. She didn't mean to be rude, but in her drunken state, she was making me feel like a fifteen-year old in a room of adults. It was hard to remind myself that I was an adult too.

"Also!" Lily added as she picked up the wine bottle again. "The winner, wins…" her free hand felt under the couch below her. She spilt a bit of white wine onto the carpet, and didn't seem to notice. "This!" She drew out a bottle of Van Gogh Dutch Caramel Vodka. Not cheap stuff. And caramel was my _favorite._

"Winner?" Meiko asked, standing.

"The one who finds the most! Aaaaand, Go!"

I definitely was not interested in the items on the list, but my competitive edge was ticking, and, after this party, I knew I'd be ready for a drink. Or a bottle.

I shot off of the couch, before immediately stopping in my tracks. "Wait, where are they hidden? Do we get any clues?"

The other girls stopped to hear the answer.

"No hints!" Lily laughed. "And they're all over the hotel! You better find them, before other people do! Now I'll be here, watching me some Catfish. You guys have an hour. No go on!"

I briefly wondered why Lily would want to spend her Bachelorette party alone, drinking and watching MTV, and then I realized that's exactly how I would spend my Bachelorette party. I wondered if this was an elaborate plan to both please her traditional mother, and be able to spend her last few days of freedom alone. I was amazed at her plot, but the thought was unable to develop for too long. I had some sex toys to find.

The other girls all ran out of Lily's room, but I decided to stay and look around. Obviously, there had to be something hidden in here. Lily paid no mind to me as I made my way inter her kitchen. Searching the counters and shelves, there was nothing there. Would it be weird to look through her bedroom? Probably. I steered clear. That left the bathroom and the living room. I had been sitting in the living room for a while and had had plenty of time to examine it. I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. Bathroom it is.

Lily's hair drier, makeup, and other clutter was scattered across the sparkling counter. There was nothing on the list in the cabinets, and nothing out-of-the ordinary amongst her things. In one last attempt, I pulled the shower curtain back.

There was a black dress hanging on the shower nozzle. I grabbed it, flipping to the still-attached tag at the bottom. It was the price tag, and, written over the store tag were the words "Erotica Teddy" in black sharpie. The elegant handwriting could only belong to Lily. I looked back to the list, and, sure enough, there it was near the bottom. I took a deep breath. This was going to be a fun, yet rather uncomfortable game.

I didn't have a bag, so I slung the lingerie over my shoulder, and left the apartment. Lily gave me a thumbs up as I passed her.

After that, I had no idea where to look. The hotel was huge, and I mostly spent my time running through the halls. Yes. _Running._ I got more than my fair share of dirty looks.

I found a mask that looked like it belonged at a elegant ball hanging from some random person's doorknob on the 15th floor. On it's tag, it read "Fifty Shades Darker Anastasia Mask." I crossed it off the list, and hung the mask around my wrist.

I took about five different elevators throughout the hour, and in one of them, one of the ceiling tiles was slightly askew. I hadn't been tall enough to reach it. There was a wheelchair down the hallway. I didn't even think about it, and wheeled it into the elevator just as the doors were closing. They opened a few floors lower, and an older couple gasped as they saw me balancing on a wheelchair, holding the ball gag that had been hidden on top of the elevator. "Excuse me," I told them, as I jumped down and walked past them. I hung the gag around my wrist, next to the mask, and crossed it off the list.

There were a pair of black, elbow length leather gloves hanging on the railings of the stairwell somewhere around the seventh floor. I was running out of room to carry everything, so I just put them on.

I went to the bathroom on the tenth floor, and found a bottle in one of the sinks. "Delectable Desires." It was at the top of the list. I crossed it out, and put it in my pocket.

I stopped in the breakfast room to grab some coffee. It was about eight by now, but the tables for the next morning were set out. They were completely empty, except for a DVD case. It was standing up, in full view of the entire room, with a picture of a shirtless dude and a brunette in lingerie. "Lust Unleashed." Sure enough, it was on the list.

I stared it down while I sipped my coffee. The room wasn't full, but there were definitely a couple people there. More people than I would like to see me grab that DVD. Everyone in the room had seen it on the table;it was obvious. They kept whispering and pointing towards it. I stood in the corner, pondering how I was going to sneak that DVD away, when I realized people were doing the same thing to me. Pointing and whispering.

And then I remembered that I had lacey lingerie draped over my shoulder, a Fifty Shades Darker mask around my wrist along with a cherry red ball-gag, black gloves on, and lube in my pocket. I threw my coffee in the trash, grabbed the DVD in my free hand, and left.

It had been an hour. There were plenty of items on the list I had not seen, but I wasn't about to cheat. People gave me the same weird looks as I rode the elevator up to Lily's floor, but I was immune to it by now.

I was the last person to arrive back at Lily's apartment. When I walked in, Lily stood, swaying a bit, and applauded me. "Looks like you brought quite the haul!" she slurred a bit. "Dump it on the table, and let's count!"

I had found six items. Meiko had four, Ia had two, and Mayu also had six.

I sighed. "Well," I turned to Mayu, who looked almost as ridiculous as me with all of her items. "I guess we'll have to share this bottle."

Her eyes sparkled with laughter. Her small lips formed into a smile. She seemed to be having the most fun with this out of all of us. "That's okay! I'll drink with ya."

"Wait!" Lily was looking over our items with an extra list in her hand. "You guys found everything except one thing!" She raised a finger in the air. "And it's probably the best thing."

The rest of us looked at each other, confused.

"Did any of you, by any chance," Lily's eyes gleamed. "Check the main lobby?"

None of us had.

She threw her head back in laughter again. "Welp! Field trip!"

We left our winnings in her room, and rode an elevator down to the lobby together. Lily was swaying as she walked, and she seemed fully aware of it, and I briefly worried if we would get in trouble for this. Then again, she had already hidden… how did she say it? _Interesting_ party favors around the entire hotel, so this couldn't have been that bad.

We entered the lobby. The floors were golden marble, glossed over and shining the grand chandeliers that hung over them. High ceilings, decorated walls, and expensive-looking sitting areas littered the lobby, all surrounded by a statue. The statue was a woman, kneeling in the middle of a small fountain trickling down into a pool of water she sat in. Her hands rested on her knees, and her silver, unmoving eyes were fixed on the water before her.

Around her wrists were a pair of blue handcuffs.

"Hehehe," Lily giggled as we all caught sight. Like the DVD I had grabbed, people were flashing curious, disgusted, and uncomfortable glances in the statue's direction.

Mayu shook her head. "How are you gonna get those down?" She asked Lily.

She laughed again in response. "I'm not. One of you will for me."

The statue was in the middle of the water. There was no way to grab the cuffs without getting a little wet in the process.

"They're fake, obviously, so they come off with a little switch thingy on of them." Lily was really slurrying now. "So, I guess, Mayu or Rin, whoever grabs them… wins." Much to my embarrassment, but to the other girl's great entertainment, Lily sat down on the floor in the middle of the hallway. She did not seem ready to move anytime soon, either.

"Well," Mayu said to me as the other girls tried to pick her up. "I don't think I can do it."

I bit my lip. The breakfast room hadn't nearly been this big, nor had this many people been in it. Also, it was _right next_ to the main desk. Did the people working here see them? They had to have. The electric-blue cuffs stood out like a black sheep. _Did Lily get permission to do this?_ I don't know why the question hadn't popped in my head sooner.  
The girls behind us continued laughing. "Are you gonna do it?" Mayu asked me.

I hesitated. Did I really want to get my shoes wet? Did I really want to make an ass out of myself in front of these "high-society" people?

 _Ah, shit. I've been doing that all week. This is nothing._

I put a hand on Mayu's shoulder for support as I slipped off my socks and shoes. She laughed when she realized what I was doing.

"Go get em, girl."

Lily yelled after me as I walked away from them, drawing the attention of every person in the lobby. The chatter quieted, and I almost stopped dead in my tracks. But I didn't. My bare feet padded against the floor, and stopped at the edge of the fountain. The bottom of it was littered with change. _Ah. A wishing well. Perfect for me to walk all over._

Taking a final deep breath, I rolled up my pajama pants, and stepped into the cold water. I grinned. The felt a laughing storm coming on, I didn't know why. But this was probably more hilarious to do, than hilarious to watch. I could still hear Lily and the other's cheering me on from across the lobby, and, although it caused me even greater embarrassment, it fueled my escapades even more.

I waded through the water. It was freezing on my bare shins. The trickle of the fountain grew louder until it was all I could hear. I walked right up to the handcuffs, grabbing them, and turning them over looking for the clip. They were fluffy and soft on my hand, and, to my great horror, I thought of Len at that very moment.

 _No. No. No. Stop right there._

I fought off intrusive thoughts, and then resumed fiddling with them. I finally found the clip.

 _Sorry lady,_ I thought to the statue. I slipped the cuffs off of her, and turned around.

I was faced with a dead silent lobby full of wide-eyed, middle-aged people who were all, most likely, planning on seeing nothing interesting on the Aspen vacation other than snow-filled ski resorts.

"Um," I said loudly. I felt I needed to say _something._ "Sorry! I… uh…" Even the employees were staring at me. "I just… misplaced these… I guess."

And with that I sprinted out of the water, nearly slipping on my way over to the safety of the girls.

They cheered me on like I had won first place in a race. Which, I guess, I had.

I left the hotel not too long after with my head down, a plastic bag filled with goodies, and a smile on my face that stretched from ear to ear.

"Hey honey! Welcome home!" Emily stood in the kitchen when I entered the apartment. She noticed the bag I was holding immediately.

"Um, hi!" I answered. The last thing I wanted was for her to see the bag of… things I had carried in with me. My heart started beating faster. This was the most terrifying moment of all night.

"Would you like some dinner? I made us spaghetti!"

I shook my head. "Um, no thanks! We ate at Lily's…" I kept the bag behind me, and inched my way to Len's room as she spoke to me. Thankfully, Mike was engulfed in the tv, and probably hadn't even noticed me arriving.

"Are you sure? There's plenty left."

"Yes, yes I'm sure." I made it to his room. I felt for the doorknob while trying to keep eye contact. "I'm _stuffed._ But thank you so much, I really appreciate it!"

"Okay, well-"

I found the doorknob. "Thankyougoodnight!" I sputtered in one word. I opened the door and shut it in one motion.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned my back against it. Len was sitting on his bed, studying in his pajama pants. He wasn't wearing a shirt. I was painfully aware of that fact after the night I had just had.

He gave me a confused look. "You okay?" His eyes fluttered to the bag, which now lay on the floor next to me. "Whatcha got there?"

I grinned, and picked it up. I fished through it until I found what I was looking for. "Delectable Desire."

"Here," I laughed, throwing the bottle on the bed. "You'll get more use out of that than I will."

He furrowed his brow, looking over the bottle, and then widened his eyes. "What the fuck did you guys _do?_ "

I was blushing, but I couldn't help it. The night was too absurd not to share. "I also have a ball gag, some new gloves, a very interesting movie, and…" I pulled out my prize. "Expensive liquor!"

He grabbed the bottle and read it. "How did you-"

"Scavenger hunt," I answered. I sat on the bed next to him. "Lily hid these things all over her hotel, and we had to go find them. And I-" I gave him a victorious look. "Found the most."

He gave a low laugh. "You sure do love your toys, don't you?"

My blush deepend. That was not the response I expected. "N-No! I just wanted to win."

His eyes widened. "Oh, is Rinny getting _embarrassed?_ "

"Shut up!" I pulled a pillow into my lap and buried my face into it.

He just laughed. "Is that why you ran in here so fast?"

I nodded, my face still buried in the pillow.

"You know…" he started, still laughing. "Lily didn't hide these by herself."  
I turned my head to look at him. "What?"

Those blue eyes sparkled with laughter. He was almost crying. "My Mom knows what you have. She hid them in the first place."

My heart dropped. _I have to go help Lily with her Bachelorette party tonight_. She had said. _Oh God. He's right._

She had looked pretty amused when I came inside.

"Oh, _god,"_ I muttered for the millionth time that night.

"Dump the bag out. I wanna see what you got."

"Perv." But I dumped it out.

"Dude," he gawked at the pile. "Fuzzy handcuffs?"

I leaned back against the headboard, and popped open my bottle. "I don't wanna talk about it."


	6. Wednesday

"Len, what should I wear?"

"I dunno. Jeans."  
"Are we going somewhere fancy, though?"

He shrugged into the mirror next to me. "I dunno."

"And it's supposed to snow today, right?"

"Maybe."

"And your whole family is gonna be there right?"

"I think so."

"Ugh," I dropped my hand with my eyeliner pen in it to the counter in exasperation. "Your no help."

"Here," he walked past me, and came back in holding the lace teddy I snatched away yesterday. "Wear this."

"I hate you."

"Rin, I don't know. Wear whatever you want." He threw it back on the floor, and resumed his spot at his sink.

"Well what are you wearing?"

"Jeans and a t-shirt."

"And if it snows?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'll bring my ski jacket."

"The white one?"

"Yeah."

I sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll just match you, I guess."

"You ready for this?" He asked, rather suddenly.

"Ready for what?" I resumed applying my eyeliner.

"We have a few hours of extreme coupliness ahead of us."

I let out a laugh. "Coupliness?"  
He just nodded, flashing me a grin.

"Yeah," I answered. "I'll be fine. We'll be fine."

"Alright." He stared at himself in the mirror, his hands running through his hair.

"You need help?" I asked him.

"I just can't get this one piece to stay down."

I smiled. His hair had always been untameable. I set my eyeliner down on the counter, finally happy with how it looked, and turned to him. "Here. Look at me."

He turned to me, and I ran my hand under the faucet for a second before smoothing down the strand he had been fighting for the past half hour. As I kept my attention focused on his hair, I noticed, with a flush of embarrassment, that he was staring at me. His light blue gaze weighed down on me suddenly. I pretended to not see it.

"There," I said a bit shakily. "You're all set now." My hands fell back to my sides, and I, against my better judgement, met his gaze. There was a moment of silence between us, filled with… something. It didn't feel awkward, it didn't feel creepy. It wasn't uncomfortable, or tense. It was just different. It was something that we had never really had between us before.

And whatever it was, I never wanted it to end. And at the same time, I really needed to get ready. But this silent exchange between us… how could I end it? It seemed too powerful to simply break off. I couldn't just look away from him.

I raised up on my tip toes, and planted my lips to his. We stood there together for a painfully short moment, before my heels met the floor again. He looked like I had just thrown a bucket of ice water at him.

"Coupley, right?" I asked.

He didn't say anything. Just a nod in confirmation.

I turned away from him, and walked back into the bedroom to dig through my bags. There had to be _something_ to wear in here.

Len stayed in the bathroom. It took everything in my power to not acknowledge the spinning feeling in my head.

We walked down mainstreet, hand in hand, with Emily and Mike striding along beside us. Cheesecake Factory wasn't too far away, and I used the mental images of pies, vanilla and chocolate cheesecakes, and endless scoops of ice cream to distract myself from the fact that I was about to sit in a room with Len's entire family while under this facade. My hands were growing sweaty the closer we became to the restaurant. I had to let go of Len's hand several times to wipe it on my jeans. It wasn't the most romantic gesture, but he grinned at me every time my fingers intertwined with his again.

"... and Lily was disappointed because she _really_ wanted them to cater, but they just refuse to drive to Aspen in the winter." Emily had been droning on to her husband, while Len and I walked beside them silently.

"Well, you have to understand. The company has a lot at stake, too. What if another snow storm shows up?" Mike answered. He seemed only half-interested in this conversation.

"But it's their job, Mike. They deliver. They should be able to drive in the snow." She let out an annoyed breath. "Anyway, we found this other place that makes amazing italian food, and Lily was all over it."

 _Mmm. Italian Food._ My stomach grumbled. It wasn't quiet about it, either.

"But Dillon has been a bit… irresponsible, lately."

For the first time since we left, Len joined the conversation. "What? How?"

Emily turned to face him as she spoke. "He's just been ditching all these preparation events to hit the resorts and stuff."

"Pfft." Len shook his head. "He better get his shit together then."

" _Len!"_

"Oh, don't tell me you're not thinking the same thing." He muttered. "It takes two people to get married, and Lily's definitely done her part." his expression warped into one of annoyance.

I had to look away to hide the smile on my face. His concern was adorable.

"But he's in Aspen, Len." Mike turned to look at him too. "In the winter. Of course he's going to take some time off."

"Then they should've come here on their honeymoon, or something. I'm always here in the winter, and I'm always around when I need to study. Or get work done. Or when Rin needs me."

Thank God I was looking away when he said that. My eyes widened as I tuned into the conversation.

"Well," Emily's tone was warm and proud. "Not everyone can be as wonderful as you, Len."

 _True._

The restaurant was packed, but, thankfully, Len's parents had made reservations for a whopping party of twenty-four. _Twenty fucking four_ people were coming. At least we weren't going to be the couple in the center of attention, I figured, but it was still enough to get my heart pounding.

They set us at our table in the middle of the main room. There were four or five waiters assigned to just our table, and we ordered our drinks as soon as we sat down.

The rest of Len's family came all at once.

Kids ran in circles around the table. Len's aunts sat at the end opposite us (thankfully) gossiping rather loudly about people I didn't know. Lily and Dillon sat in the middle of the table across from each other, with Lily's family on the same side as her, and Dillon's family with him. I recognized Meiko next to hime. Lily's other bridesmaids were littered around the table. Emily sat to Lily's right, Len to her left, and I was placed next to him. Nearly in the center. Not too many people tried to talk to me. Thank God.

Except the one person I wanted to talk to.

"What're you gonna get?" Len leaned over to look at my menu. Somehow, he had ended up without one.

"I'm thinking the fresh grilled salmon."

"Ugh," he wrinkled his nose. "You like fish?"

I gawked at him. "You _don't_ like fish?"

"Hell no. It's too… gross."

"Oh," I giggled. "Too gross. Got it." I handed him the menu. "What do you want?"

He didn't even have to look at the menu to answer me. "Grilled pork chop."

I shrugged. "At least we can agree on the grilled part."

"Wait wait wait," I leaned over, flipping the menu open. "These looked really good."

" _Small Snacks and Plates_ ," he read. "Why would you come to a restaurant for a small snack?"

"I dunno. But look," I pointed to one of the snacks. " _Cheeseburger Spring Rolls._ "

He nodded. "Yeah, those might have to get ordered."

Just in time, Lily turned to face Len. "Did you guys want any appetizers?"

I laughed at her perfect timing. The waiter behind her stood expectantly with a pen in his hand.

"Uh, yeah," I answered for him. "Can we get these?"

They were definitely worth it. They came on a small platter of about six, with queso dipping sauce. We hoarded them all to ourselves.

"Here," I laughed. I dipped on into the queso, and held it up to him. "Open wide~" I sang. "Here comes the traaaiiin!"

He shook his head at me, laughing too. He opened wide, and gave me the perfect opportunity to smear queso all over his face.

"Dude, you'll never learn."

"Heere," he responded, not even trying to wipe the mess from his face. "Let's see if you'll trust _me_."

I shook my head. "Oh no. you're not fooling me."

"Get a room, you too," Lily chimed in again. I looked past Len at her, and noticed a few members of the family also witnessing our little quarrel.

"Oh, like you and Dillon haven't been making googly-eyes at each other since you walked into the door," Len retorted.

" _We're_ getting married."

"So?"

Lily laughed. "How long have you two been together, anyway?"

 _Ah, shit._ I thought. _Len, please take this one._

He fumbled over his words a bit. "A couple months."

Emily, from down the table, leaned in to look at us. "You've been hiding Rin from us for a couple _months_?"

I took a great interest in the unfinished platter in front of me.

Len shrugged. "It just… never came up."

"Come on, Len," Lily goaded him on. "How long is a couple months?"

 _Dammit._ I couldn't let Len take all the heat for this. "Eight months," I blurted out, raising my eyes from my food and meeting the entire table. My confidence faltered at all the eyes staring at me. "We've been together… like that, for, uh, eight months."

" _Eight!?_ " Lily gasped. "That's… not a short amount of time."

Len nodded wordlessly. He grabbed his water and took a nervous sip of it.

"So… have _you_ guys thought about marriage?"

...and, he spit some of it up on his spring roll. I covered my mouth to keep from bursting into laughter.

"Ah, uh, no!" He yelled as yanked the napkin out from under his silverware. "No! No, we haven't."

Lily was getting a kick out of this. Lucky for Len, most of Dillon's family had turned back to their own conversations, so only his family witnessed the scene.

"I'm just fucking with you," Lily playfully swatted him on the shoulder. "Eight months isn't nearly long enough for marriage. Gotta be _at least_ a year."

"A year?" Emily asked. "I think even longer."

"Dillon and I have been together for a year and a half," Lily informed her. "It's been long enough to know that he's right for me."

"But how long did you know him before you were with him?" Len asked. Although I was just a silent onlooker in the current conversation, the question took me off guard.

"We met online, and decided to stay together after our second date."

Dillon laughed across the table. The waiters had come with the main course. "Oh, come on. You can tell them," he told Lily as the waiter placed his pasta in front of him. "Our first date was _perfect._ Thanks to my amazing planning, of course."

I knew he was joking, but something about his cockiness irked me. I suddenly felt extremely sympathetic of Len's general dislike of the guy.

"I think," Emily started. She mixed up her salad at she spoke. "That it's the best to be friends _long_ before you even think about getting married. Or, even think about being in a relationship, even." She leaned over to Mike. "That's how we did it." She stared at him lovingly.

Lily giggled, clearly unaffected by the comment. "You mean like Rin and Len?"

This time it was my turn to almost drown in my glass of water. Len's family looked over at us again, and Len smiled, but didn't meet their eyes or respond.

"Yeah," I answered for him. He turned his gaze towards me, and we locked eyes as I finished. "Like Rin and Len."

The sun had set, and we all exited the restaurant with full stomachs and smiling faces. It had snowed. The entire town was covered in a thin layer of white, painting the streets and shops around with a beautiful and mystical air. I grinned as I looked over it. Everything was so peaceful; people were strolling the streets, bundled up in their winter gear, holding each other's gloved hands and smiling with their rosy cheeks. They walked under orange street lamps that illuminated the snow-covered ground in even more exotic shades and colors. The few clouds that remained in the sky were painted amazing shades of purples and pinks in the last lights of the setting sun.

"This is awesome," I told Len. I put my gloves on, and slipped my hand into his. The Cheesecake Factory stood on a hill, giving us an amazing view of it all.

He nodded. "Yeah. These are the best."

Len's family stood behind us. They took pictures of the marvelous scene in front of us. Len and I just watched, and I was pleased that he didn't try to take pictures, either. This was the first, and possible the last, time his family would ever see a view like this. Len and I had many more sunsets to come.

Without thinking, I stepped closer to Len, and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Oh, that's so cute!" Lily yelled from behind us. We turned to look at her, and she waved her hands in the air. "No! No! Look that way. Like you just were!" She held her phone in her hand.

I laughed, looking and Len for reassurance. He just smiled warmly back at me. The closeness of his face, as well as the kindness and gentleness of his expression made me blush. I looked away, letting Lily snapped the picture she wanted.

"Oh my gosh," she said. "I am _so_ sending this to you guys."

They crowd began making their way down the sidewalk towards the streets. I was surprised there wasn't more whining about the cold, but I definitely wasn't complaining. Emily and Mike led the way, with the family members forming their own little groups in the middle, and Len and I following up behind everyone.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out with my right hand, my left still intertwined with Len's. It was a text from Lily. Our picture no doubt. I opened it, and grinned like a madman.

Len saw it over my shoulder. "That looks pretty awesome," he said.

I nodded. The picture caught all the ambient lights of the sunset and the snow-covered city, with only the silhouette of Len and I holding hands, with my head leaning on his shoulder.

"It's cute," I responded honestly.

Our crowd had reached the streets. They were the epitome of a tourist group, and the idea of joining them seemed extremely unappealing to me. We weren't tourists. The smaller groups began to break off, each heading in their own direction.

"Len, let's go somewhere," I suggested.

He had caught sight of the others leaving as well. He nudged me playfully in the shoulder. "Where we going?"

I nudged him back, harder. "I don't know!"

He rubbed his shoulder in mock pain. "I'm gonna tell my Mom you beat me."

"That's okay." We veered across the street, officially splitting from the rest of the group. "They already don't like me," I joked.

His expression hardened. "Oh, bullshit. They like you."

I waved him off. "It's not a big deal, Len. I'm just, like, the complete opposite of your family." I paused, waiting for him to say something.

He hesitated, staring straight ahead. "They like you more than they like Dillon."

I widened my eyes. "What does that mean?" I asked with a nervous laugh.

The gears in his head turned. "It means you should have married my sister."

My shoulders huffed as I burst into laughter. "Yeah!" I yelled, when I had the breath to do so. "Lily'd make a great lesbian wife."

He held a hand up towards me. "Okay, okay." He was laughing too. "That's enough."

His hand tightened around mine, and I was reminded that we were still holding hands.

The laughter died down, and we continued our walk down the street. People occasionally passed by us. Not nearly as many as we'd usually see during the onset of ski season.

"Must be too cold for the tourists," I said aloud. We had found our way to the Aspen Art Museum, and we hadn't seen another person in about ten or fifteen minutes.

Len pulled his phone from his pocket, clicked it once, and then returned it. "Well, it's almost midnight already."

"Hm. Time flies."

"Yeah."

"You think your parents are worried?"

Len shook his head, and unworried expression on his face. "They texted me earlier asking where we went. I just told Mom we were walking around and would meet them back at the apartment."

"Do you think they're still walking around, too?"

"Oh yeah. Dad's feet are probably about to fall off."

We stopped under a streetlight next to the entrance of the museum. I caught sight of the store next door, and let out a laugh.

"How classy," I said to Len, pointing a thumb over my shoulder at the store.

 _Native Roots Dispensary_ the sign read.

Len laughed along with me. "Gotta smoke up before you head into the boring museum."

"Museums are not boring!" I countered. "Where else are you gonna learn history? School?"

"Yeah. I learned enough there."

"I think it's interesting." I crossed my arms in front of my chest as a breeze flew by. My hand felt cold without Len holding it.

"I think _that_ ," he pointed to the dispensary. "Is more interesting."

"Pssh," I chuckled. "Because you're _such_ a stoner, Len." I leaned toward him, putting more emphasis on the word. I kept my arms crossed.

"You cold? Or just trying to up the sass?"

I shrugged. "A little bit of both."

He opened his arms wide, facing me, with a goofy smile on his face. "Come 'eeereeee," he sang, inviting me into a hug.

"You're such a dork," I responded, walking into his hug nonetheless. He wrapped his arms around me in a giant bear hug, which definitely served its purpose in warming me up. I closed my eyes as I buried my nose into the crook of his neck. I let out a content sigh into the soft fabric of his jacket, and wrapped my arms around him in return. The street was silent except for our breathing, coming out in small clouds in front of us, and the quiet _thump thump_ of his heart. I couldn't help but admire how easily we fit into each other like this.

He raised his head, suddenly, as if he saw something. I opened my eyes at the sudden movement, raising my head with him, and barely had time to look at him before he planted his lips on mine. More on a reflex than anything, I cupped his face and leaned deeper into our sudden kiss. I didn't know why he decided to start making out with me in between a museum and a pot shop, but I decided at that moment that I didn't care.

Our moment lasted much longer than any of the other fake kisses we had shared, but he finally pulled away from me, his eyes still bearing down on mine. I stared up at him, unable to say anything, and not really wanting to say anything.

He must have thought I was waiting for an explanation. "My parents and Lily were over there," he pointed to a spot behind me.

I turned to the corner, to find it empty.

"They must have left," he explained.

I grinned. "I wasn't looking for an explanation-"

We made eye contact one more time, before I stepped back. "We should probably head back home." A shiver ran through me. He was _warm._

"Yeah," he responded. He looked dazed,like he had just woken up from a nap. I couldn't blame him, I probably looked the same way. "Home."

We walked around a little while longer before finally returning home. Len's parents beat us there, and the second we walked in the door, Len headed straight for his bedroom. I was sympathetic; I was exhausted too. But Emily had made some cookies while we were gone, and I had to try her famous homemade snickerdoodles.

"Did you guys have fun?" She asked me. We stood in the kitchen around the island. There was a glass of milk in front of each of us, and a freshly baked tray in the middle.

I nodded. "Yeah! It was awesome." I dipped a cookie into my glass. "Walked around for a while."

Emily smiled warmly. "Good. I'm glad you two had fun."

"Did you have fun with Lily and them?" I asked.

"At the restaurant? Of course! Oh, the food was _delicious_ Rin. That steak was marvelous."

"Yeah, it looked pretty good. But you guys were strolling around town after too, right?"

Emily chuckled. "Oh, no, dear. I was far too exhausted for any more _walking_. Mike and I came right back here after dinner."

I managed to hold a straight face on the outside, but on the inside, I was screaming. And not in the bad way. I was screaming like a teenage girl who just found out she had a hot prom date. _I guess I kinda do._

"Oh, hon." She took a bite out of the cookie in her hand. "I am getting so excited. We only have _three more days._ Oh gosh. My little girl is getting married." She was grinning from ear to ear. "And I went to the bakery, and they told me the cake you guys chose, and it's _perfect_! Lily will _love_ it!"

Her praise brought a smile and a blush to my cheeks, but in all honesty, I was only half-listening. I had some other things weighing on my mind.


	7. Thursday

"Rinny."

I grunted, pulling the covers up over me.

"Riiiiiiiin-"

Shaking my head, I swatted at the annoying voice. "No," was all I could mumble.

"I made breakfast."

This at least made me open my eyes. Len was standing next to the bed, Kneeled down so he was eye level with me. "What time is it?" I asked, grumpily.

"It's nine."

"What the fuck are you doing awake at nine?" I murmured. The pillow was so comfortable to lay on.

"... I wanted to make us breakfast."

I furrowed my brow at his changed tone. "...what'd you make?"

"Biscuits and gravy."

I shot up like a bullet, immediately swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "Well," I asked, wide-awake now. "Why didn't you just say so?"

Not bothering to change out of my pajamas, we entered the living room and the kitchen together. I looked around the room, very aware of the peace and quiet that hovered throughout the apartment.

"They left to go help Lily with something," Len explained, noticing my eyes scanning.

"Ah," I answered. The savory smell of the gravy on the stove danced around me. "What made you decide to cook today?" I asked Len with a smile.

He took his place at the stove with a big plastic spoon in his hand, and stirred the gravy. "I dunno." He shrugged,

Usually I would just let it go. But I couldn't. Not this time. "Yeah you do," I responded.

He chuckled, but didn't say anything.

"Come in," I egged him on. I leaned against the counter next to him. "There's gotta be _some_ reason why you decided to do this today."

He thought for a moment before answering. " I… knew they were your favorite. I just thought you'd like it."

There were those butterflies, again. "I do. Thank you."

He beamed back at me.

I grabbed a plate from the cupboard above us as Len pulled the biscuits out of the oven. The warm air of the oven flowed into the apartment as he opened, then closed the door.

"Mhmmm," I sniffed the air. "Perfectly cooked too."

Len laughed. "Well, I _am_ the world's best cook."

"Yeah," I agreed, using a spatula to scoop two biscuits onto my place. "Can't argue with that." Using a butter knife, I carefully cut open the biscuits, watching eagerly as the steam from their freshly baked insides rose into the air. I poured a generous amount of gravy over them, before handing the plate to Len. "Here you are, chef."

He waved his hand in the air dismissively. "That's your plate."

"Bet."

"I will." I nudged the plate closer to him. "You cooked, you get to eat first."

His shoulders shrugged. I'd never found it so difficult to convince Len to eat food before. "Fine," he grumbled. As I handed him the plate, he shot me smirk.

I prepared my own plate, and plopped down on the couch next to him after double-checking that the oven and stove top were turned off. The breakfast was exactly what I had expected: Heaven on a plate.

"Phiss is soooo gooood," I droned on with a mouthful of food.

"Dude," he chuckled. "Gross."

"Oh wha-ever," I retorted, swallowing. "You've done grosser."

"Yeah…" he admitted.

I took another bite. "So, what did Lily need help with?"

"Her dress."

I crossed my legs on the couch, shifting my plate so it sat in my lap. "Uh oh. Is it okay?"

"I'm not sure. But Mom didn't seem too upset when they left, so I'm sure it's fine." He leaned back, setting his already empty plate on the coffee table in front of us. "That reminds me. Mom wants us to go pick up the flowers."

I furrowed my brows. "Already? Shouldn't we get them the same day as the wedding?"

He shook his head. "She said she wants to bring them to the venue where the reception will be."

"Where's that?"

"Lily's hotel."

"They're having the reception at _Lily's hotel?_ " I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised. Knowing his family, I was expecting something flashier.

He nodded. "Yeah. They have giant baskets of flowers that are all prepared already, and Mom said they'll last until Saturday."

I set my empty plate next to his. "Okay," I chirped. "When are we going?"

He stretched his arms out in front of him. He was still in his pajamas, too. "Soon. The florist is pretty close, but we need to drive all the flowers to the hotel."

"What kinda flowers are they?" I asked with a smile.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I think she said there were white and pink roses."

"What?!" I exclaimed with widened eyes.

He jumped slightly at my shout. "Um… yeah?"

I jumped to my feet. "That fucking _adorable._ "

Once he realized I wasn't about to scream at him, his expression changed from worried, to gentle. "You like roses?"

"Mhmm," I nodded furiously. "And it's a cute color combination, too."

The gleam in his eyes told me that the gears in his hand were turning. "I'll… uh, keep that in mind."

Len was definitely right; these baskets were huge. So huge that we had to take Lily's rental car, which Len's parents so kindly dropped off for us, to go pick them up. There was barely enough room to fit all eight baskets in the back of the car, even with the back seats laid down. There were four filled with pink roses, and four filled with white. Each bouquet had a perfect amount of roses in it to make a dome shape in the basket. It was adorable, and I made sure to remind Len of that fact every time I thought of it. He drove carefully back to Lily's hotel. My eyes were glued to the rear view mirror on the way back. I was not going to let these beautiful bouquets fall.

The familiar entrance to Lily's five-star hotel popped into view as Len parked the car in the parking lot, as close to the front doors as possible. These baskets, even though they only held flowers, were incredibly heavy, and both of us could carry only one at a time thanks to that, as well as their huge size.

Opening the back, we stood side by side, each grabbing our first basket. The attendant out front in charge of the valet parking was kind enough to shut the back for us as we made out way inside.

The second we entered the lobby, I felt a blush forming on my face. The first thing I noticed, of course, was the statue in the middle of the room. Cuffless, luckily. I tried to avert my gaze. _No one remembers you. No one here saw that. Just keep walking._

And then I remembered that I'd be making this trip again a minimum of three times. Of course. I was only thankful that Len walked in front of me. I had… _forgotten_ to tell him about that part of my Tuesday night.

The reception room entrance was straight across from the main entrance. A lobby clerk lead us there after he caught sight up us with the massive flower arrangements. Wide double doors opened into a huge room, with circular tables littered around covered in white tablecloths. The floors were carpeted except for a wooden dance floor in the middle of the room and a stage at the end of the room across from where we entered. There was a long table stretched across it, and I frowned. I would most definitely be sitting at that table in a couple days.

"The room is all ready for Saturday," the clerk explained. He was dressed in a suit, probably required at such a fancy hotel. He spoke politely and slowly. "You are welcome to bring in any decorations for the reception that you wish. We will clean out the room Sunday morning, so please have everything you wish to keep out of the room by then."

Len was too busy admiring the room to notice he had even started talking.

"Yes," I grunted, setting down the flowers." We will make sure to do that. Thank you."

To my amusement, he bowed slightly, before exiting the room.

"Where should we put these?" I asked Len.

He set his basket down next to mine. "Well, six of them are staying here, and lily said to put them around our table." He eyed the stage nervously. Thankfully, I wasn't the only person who was weary of being center-stage. "So… I guess we put these around the stage, and then leave two by the door, so we can pick them up the morning of the ceremony."

"Sounds like a plan." I braced myself, and lifted the basket again. He did the same. We crossed the room, and pushed the baskets against the raised stage. The first set we placed on either side of a small set of stairs in the front of the stage. There was a set of stairs on all three sides.

"That makes it easy," I commented, rubbing my cramping hands together. "A white and a pink basket for each side."

Len was out of breath, too. "Yeah. Let's just get this done. These things _suck._ "

I followed him back to the lobby. "But they're pretty!" I cheered.

Len didn't turn to look at me, but I could see his shoulders jumping from his laughter.

The second trip, I grabbed a box of white roses, he grabbed the pink, and we made our way back inside. We placed them against the right side of the stage. Repeating the process again on the left side caused my arms to ache. _Only one more._

"Did Lily choose these?" I asked Len as we left for our fourth trip.

"I think so. Either her or Mom. And they have pretty much the same taste in flowers." He walked calmly with his arms at his sides.

"Same taste?" I asked. We entered the lobby, and, once again, I eyed the statue. "Your family enjoy flowers?"

I was joking, but he answered seriously. "Yeah. My Mom is super into gardening. Lily kinda grew up with it."

 _That explains why she doesn't like the snow._ "And you didn't?"

We pushed our way out of the front doors again. It wasn't nearly as cold as the night before, but we could still see our breath forming clouds in front of us. Winter was here. "Oh, I did."

"Then what's your favorite flower?" I asked innocently. "You definitely can't get any better than white roses." We reached the car, and I opened the back. Only two baskets remained. I climbed into the car to pull them towards us.

"I like sunflowers," Len answered behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at him. "Sunflowers?" I pulled the pink rose box towards him. "You're in the wrong place for those, buddy."

"Well, snow is better than any flower."

I shot him a grin as he picked up the basket. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

I pulled my basket out of the car, took a deep breath, and lifted it. "Agh," I grunted, much louder than I had meant to.

"You okay?" Len called over his own basket.

"Y-yeah!" My arms were shaking. I briskly followed Len to the door, unable to even nod at the valet worker who closed our trunk for the fourth time.

He pushed the door open, and I nearly jogged in behind him. _Only across the lobby. Only across the lobby. We don't even have to bring it to the stage. Only across the lobby._ My steps echoed on the marble floor, and my arms were desperately starting to ache. I was breathing heavily at this point, and, casting a glance over at Len, I could tell he was starting to ache too. _His arms aren't shaking, though._

We made it to the open doors. Len set his basket right next to the door and immediately cleared away so I could so the same. I took his place, and leaned over to set my basket down.

My right hand slipped. I quickly tried to recover it, and instead smashed my hand into the right half of the flowers. The basket hit the ground with a loud _thud_ , and the roses crumbled underneath my grip.

"Shit! Shit!" I mumbled, taking a step back. Looking at the smashed flowers, my hands flew to cover my mouth. To my horror, the arranged flowers were squished further into the basket, ruining their perfect shape. "Fuck!"

"Well," Len said from behind me. "I guess we know why they were so heavy. The baskets aren't baskets. They're metal."

I couldn't say anything. I could only stare at the beautiful flowers that I had destroyed. The flowers that were supposed to sit next to Lily as he said her vows, too. I clamped my eyes shut, feeling tears forming.

"Hey, Rin," I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We can fix them."

"I'm sorry," I whimpered, my hands now completely covering my face. "I fucked them up."

Len pulled me into a hug. "Hey, shut up," he said softly. "It's okay. We can just rearrange them."

"They're all squished." I tried to keep tears from falling from my eyes. It was difficult.

"They won't be after we fix them."

"They were so pretty."

His arms tightened around me. "They will be. I promise."

I sniffled a few more times into his chest before lowering my hands. He dropped his hands with me, still watching me with a concerned look on his face. I just stared at the floor.

"Come on." Gently grabbing my hand, Len knelt down next to the flower basket. I took a deep breath and sat on my knees next to him. He dug his hands into the ruined roses, and started gently pulling them back up to the domed-shape they were in before. I didn't want to touch them again. I felt like just laying a finger on them would cause them to burst into the flames.

I watched him pull the entire bouquet back into its original shape. Now, each rose just needed some shaping. I bit my lip, and then gently smoothed out the petals of a rose closest to me. Len fixed the ones towards the middle, and I made my way from the right.

A few silent minutes passed. The more roses I smoothed out, the better I felt. Finally, there was just one left. Len leaned back as I tried to smooth it out. Unfortunately, this one had received the worst of my assault, and was uncooperative in my attempts to fix it.

"Ugh, fuck!" I cursed under my breath. Len peered over my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"This one," I answered, suddenly feeling the urge to cry again. "I can't get it."

Len watched my struggle for a moment, before gently pushing my hands back into my lap. "Here," he said. He slowly reached into the bouquet, plucked the flower from it, and held it up to me. I inhaled sharply as he tucked the stem of the rose into my hair, just over my ear.

"There," he smiled. "All better."

The rose was firmly tucked into my hair. I felt a blush rise to my face, and found myself unable to look him in the eyes.

"T-thanks." I cursed myself for stuttering.

His hand returned to my shoulder. "I told you, it's alright."

I nodded slowly, not wanting to risk losing the rose. Looking over the bouquet, I could definitely tell it had been previously squished. Others, however, may have a hard time seeing it…

"I can barely tell," he said, looking over it and basically reading my mind. "No one else will have any idea."

"Any idea about what?"

My head shot up, and I looked over my shoulder to see Lily's friendly smile peering in through the door. Her blonde hair was tied into a neat ponytail, and she was wearing her usual fashionable winter dress and coat.

 _Fuck._ I thought. _She's definitely going to notice._

Len sighed. "I was _saying_ that no one will notice that we… _borrowed_ one of your flowers," he explained. My face went from light to dark red as I realized he was talking about the flower in my hair.

"Tsk, tsk." Lily mockingly waved a finger at us. "I guess I'll let it slide." She looked over the flowers.

 _Please don't notice please don't notice please don't noti-_

"They look _amazing_!" A wide smile formed on her face. "Oh, the florist did such a good job."

"That's what Rin said," Len told her. "White roses are her favorites, too."

"Rin," Lily started. "I love you more and more every day."

I grinned. "Thanks, Lily."

"What are you doing home?" Len asked.

"Oh, Mom and Dad dropped me off. We're done with our chores for the day." She jittered excitedly. "Can you believe it? Tomorrow is rehearsal, and then I'm _married_!" She took a deep breath. "Len, if you have any hot friends, you better tell me now. You don't have much longer."

"I'm his only hot friend."

Lily laughed. "Oh, whatever. You don't count. I said _friend_." She smoothed down a flyaway in her hair. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some sleep before tomorrow. I'll see you guys at rehearsal tomorrow."

"Wait," Len interrupted. He fished into his pocket for the car keys. "These are yours."

"Oh, thank God you remembered. I would have forgotten for sure. See you guys."

"See ya, Lily."

"Bye sis."

And she was gone.

We stood, looking over the room one last time before leaving. "I think it looks nice," Len told me.

I nodded wordlessly.

"Oh, come on. Everything is okay, Rin. You can go back to being happy, sarcastic Rin now."

I bit my lip again. "Okay," I answered timidly.

"Come on, let's head home."

My arms were aching. "Do we have to _walk_?" I pouted at him, only half joking.

Len laughed. " _There_ you are."

We exited the room for the last time, closing the doors behind us.

"By the way," he began, holding the door open for me as we exited the hotel. "You are _not_ my only hot friend."

"Oh yeah-" I cut myself off when the reality of what he just told me popped into my head. I dropped my argument. "Whatever you say, bud," was all I could say as we began our stroll home.


	8. Friday - 2

"You guys will love this place. It's at the Events Building at the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort. It's beautiful."

Emily droned on in the front seat, with Mike driving, while Len and I tried not to fall asleep in the back. I don't know why we had to do the rehearsal at seven in the morning. I was only solaced by the fact that I was not alone in my sleep deprived state.

"Now," Emily continued. "There will be a lot of people there. The photographer, our violinist, the Minister, they will all be practicing. We're going to go through the entire ceremony today."

"How long is it?" Len asked, leaning his head on my shoulder.

"About twenty to thirty minutes." Thank God she was looking out the window, or else she would have seen me and Len both do our best silent temper tantrums. "And after that, we can go home and relax."

"No rehearsal dinner?" Mike asked.

Emily laughed in response. "Dear, the dinner on Wednesday was our rehearsal dinner. We need to space things out, make sure we can rest before the big day."

"And by 'we' you mean Lily, right?" Len said. "She's the one doing most of the work."

This time, Emily did turn around. I was surprisingly unfazed as she saw Len basically asleep on my shoulder. "I disagree," she said kindly. "Yes, she's done a lot, but I think you two have really stepped up this week." She smiled. "It would have been a much more difficult and unpleasant trip if you two had not been here."

The complement warmed my heart. "Thank you, Emily."

"No, thank _you_!" Her eyes flashed kindly, and she returned to looking out of the windshield.

Len sighed next to me, and shifted a bit. I leaned onto him, and stared out the window. We were driving up the winding road to the resort, not a single other car on the road. The aspen trees flew by us. I felt my eyelids growing heavy, as well.

And before I knew it, Lily, of all people, opened my door.

"Wake up, lovebirds!" She called. Len and I both shot up.

"Wha-" He started, running his hands through his messy hair.

"You guys got here like fifteen minutes ago and Mom felt too bad to wake you up. We're about to start." She was so peppy. "So come on!"

I stood out of the car first. It was a beautiful say, one where I held my coat instead of wearing it. The sun was shining bright enough to force me to cover my eyes while following Lily inside. Len's inconsistent and tired footsteps behind me confirmed that he was following.

The building in front of us was built like a log cabin on the outside, and a copy-paste version of Lily's hotel on the inside. White, marble floors, a fountain (with no handcuffed statue) sitting areas, and even a fireplace stood in the lobby. I peeked in through the front doors, seeing a wedding arch, rows upon rows of white seats with a light pink carpet running in the middle of them, a podium, and a small stand, similar to one a statue would stand on. The podium was on the far left of the chairs, the small stand on the right. Lily and Dillon had picked up the flower baskets on their way here (I could definitely tell which one I had smushed, but no one else paid any mind to it) and they sat at the end of the carpet, just in front of the arch.

Everyone was gathered outside of the room, on the deck of the building. There were several people there I did not recognize, such as a couple of men I assumed to be Dillons groomsmen, a lady with a violin, a man in a suit, whom I assumed was the Minister, and a frazzled looking, older woman who who held a clipboard and was staring at it intently.

"Is everyone here?" The lady looked up from her clipboard, and scanned the crowd. She had a pair of round glasses on, and was constantly brushing strands of raven-black hair out of her face.

"Yes," Emily appeared. "Everyone is here."

The lady smiled. "Awesome! Can I have everyone's attention, please?"

She didn't really need to ask. Everyone was already looking at her.

"Hello, hello!" Most of you have met me, but for those of you who haven't, my name is Janice, and I'm assisting the Kagamines in planning this amazing ceremony!" She talked very fast, and with a high-pitched voice. She seemed to be an extremely... peppy person. Not my type, that's for sure. "So," she continued. "We're going to start the rehearsal. Can I have all the bridesmaids on the left, and all the groomsmen on the right? Also, Minister, please take your place at the end of the carpet."

It was in the form of a question, but it was definitely a demand. I moved over to the right, while Len went over to the left. The rest of the onlookers backed away, watching on from the steps leading up to the deck. I stood in between Meiko and Mayu. Ia and Dillon stood at the end.

"Alright," Janice seemed pleased."Now, do you guys know who you're walking in with?"

I looked frantically over at Len, who nodded slowly.

"Okay, make sure you are directly across from that person."

Len immediately jumped to the front of the line. Watching him closely, I walked to the front of my line as well as the rest of the girls shuffled to find their places. Ia and Dillon's best man stood at the end of the line. I sighed. Len and I would be the first ones in and the last ones out.

"Alright, so, our violinist is going to be inside, and when she starts playing, that is your signal," she motioned to Len and I. "To start walking in."

"Don't worry!" Lily yelled from the end of the line. "You two are allowed to hold hands."

The crowd chuckled. I blushed.

The violinist went inside. I watched her make her way to the stand, and step onto it. She rose her violin under her chin, and began playing.

"So," Janice continued. "I'll walk with you guys. Just come together…"

Taking one last nervous look at Len, I stepped forward. He mirrored me. We met in the middle, and began walking down the aisle. Janice walked backwards, leading us down.

"Perfect, perfect. Now, when they are about halfway down the aisle," she rose her voice. "The next couple will come down!"

I didn't turn my head, but, from the lack of complaining, I assumed Mayu and the one of the groomsmen were behind us.

"Awesome. Now you guys," she made eye contact with us again. "You," she pointed to me. "Will go to the left, behind where Lily will be standing. And you will go to the right, where Dillon will be standing. There is yellow tape on the ground on each side. Put your foot on that piece of tape so that it covers it."

"Which foot?" I asked. My voice sounded way more concerned than I had intended.

Janice smiled. "Your outer foot. So for you, it will be your right foot, and for the gentleman, it will be his left foot."

I snickered. Len. A gentleman.

We reached the arch, and parted. I walked to the left, desperately searching for the yellow tape. My heart slowed to its normal rate when I found it, covering it with my right foot.

"Perfect!" Janice cheered. She stood at the end of the carpet as couples continued filing down the aisle. The violin music continued chirping in the background. I let my shoulders relax. Everything I had to do, until we walked out, that is, was done. I could relax.

The rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen came in and took their place in line. Len and I had an easy view of each other, and he kept making ridiculous faces at me when no one was looking. I tried really hard not to laugh, but it was difficult. He was just as bored as I was.

"And then the groom!" The wedding planner called. Dillon appeared in the doorway, and confidently made his way down the aisle. He stood right next to the Minister.

"Next, the bride and her father!"

Lily came in, her and Mike arm in arm. Emily trailed in behind them, immediately running up the aisle and taking a seat in the front row of Lily's side.

Len coughed. I looked over at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me.

 _Classy_ , I mouthed silently to him.

He understood me, and stuck his tongue out again, shaking his head this time. Somehow, he kept his hands calmly at his sides.

Mike handed Lily off, she joined Dillon at the altar, the violinist silenced, and the rehearsal really began. They talked a lot. Other than that, nothing happened that I needed to be a part of. I tried to pay attention. Len's attention-grabbers made it insanely difficult. It appalled me that I was the only one who had noticed his antics.

The rehearsed the exchanging of the rings, which looked a bit odd without rings, and then the Minister began his conclusion. To both my luck and misfortune, I spotted a clock on the wall over the door we had entered through. I stared it down as the seconds ticked by. I had only been standing for twenty-two minutes and thirty four seconds, and I could already feel my eyes lulling. _We get to go home after this. We get to take a nap. Prepare for the real thing._

Ugh. The _real thing_. I sighed.

Lily and Dillon turned to face the nonexistent crowd. The violinist started again, and the two stood for a few moments as the photographer raced around the room, landing in the middle of the aisle, and snapped a few pictures. That poor guy. He was the only one free to move around the room, and he basically had to sprint to do so.

The couple then exited the altar and made their way out of the room. Soon after, Ia and the Best Man made their way down. Everyone else filed out, and, I was right, Len and I were last.

"Why aren't you laughing at me?" He joked the second we were next to each other.

"Because this is a _wedding_ Len," I whispered.

He chucked. "No it's not. It's a rehearsal."

"For a _wedding._ "

He yawned. "Well, wedding or not, I am about to go home and crash."

I nodded in agreement. "Me too."

And that's exactly what we did.

The crowd mingled for what felt like years before Emily and Mike finally got back into the car, where Len and I sat just like we had on our journey up. The two of them dropped us off back at the apartment so they could explore the town on their own, and so we could finally get the sleep we needed.

"You gonna cry tomorrow?" I sleepily taunted him as we rose the elevator to his room. We had fallen asleep again on the car ride home.

He chuckled. "What? Me? Cry?"

"Yeah, you." The elevator doors opened. "Your big sister is getting hitched. It's like, the most important day of her life so far."

He shrugged as we stopped in front of his door. He pulled his keys out.

"Oh, come on, Len. This is the same girl who shoved us on in the back of her car to get us to Prom on time. The same girl who called you every day in Chem last year because she wasn't used to you being away from her. The same girl who-"

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed. "You're gonna make me cry _now_."

I laughed. "I knew you were a big softie."

He closed the door behind us, and we beelined for the bedroom. I collapsed onto my side, not even bothering to pull the covers up over me.

"No," he answered, pulling the sheets out from under me. " _You're_ the big softie."

I closed my eyes and snuggled into the pillow. "Bet."

The room filled with silence. I assumed he had gone into the bathroom to change or something, and then I realized that I had failed to do so myself. I was fully prepared to sleep through the rest of the day in leggings. Ah, oh well. At least they weren't jeans.

My breathing froze as I felt Len's lips meet my cheek. He hadn't left the room at all.

"I will," he breathed.

He walked around to his side of the bed, burying himself under the covers. He had tucked me in as well. My back was to him, but I was keenly aware of his positioning and location next to me. I could still feel the heat from his lips on my cheek.

"What's your excuse for that one?" I asked softly.

"Hmm?"

I tried to think of something to say. "Your parents went home last night. They didn't see us. They weren't even close to us."

He didn't say anything. Eventually, he shifted around, and I felt an arm snake around my waist. My heart started beating faster.

"Night, Rinny."

It was noon.


	9. Saturday - 2

Four in the morning.

I was awoken at _four in the fucking morning._

Emily drove my barely conscious body to the saloon, where the other bridesmaids and Lily were happily and excitedly chattering about the day ahead. I must have looked like a zombie, especially compared to them. Their hair and makeup had turned out perfectly, and when I looked at myself, I just didn't see it. My eyes could only see the exhaustion in my face.

Sleeping all day was a bad idea, to say the least, because that meant staying up all night. It was maybe two in the morning when Len and I just passed out in front of Nightmare on Elm Street.

 _I'll be awake for the wedding,_ I had told myself. _I got enough sleep yesterday. I'll be okay._

Then we went off to Lily's apartment for our dresses. All the bridesmaids were dressed in the same light-pink, tight dress, while Lily's dress was just… stunning. Watcher her put it on, however, was less so.

"Suck in!" Ia yelled, over and over again.

"I am!"

Luckily, there was no pre-wedding meltdown. I was scared of one of those.

Before we had left, I took one last look at myself in the mirror of Lily bathroom. The dress was long, though not nearly as long and Lily's, with a white band around the waist, and a single strap that wrapped up around the back of my neck. Turning around, I blushed as I found that the entirety of my upper back was bare. _Ah, well._ I told myself. _No one will be paying attention to_ me _at all._

And, finally, to the wedding. Emily had actually hired a limo for us, which had been amazing. It was by then that I actually felt like I was warming up to the day. It was a celebration. A day to be happy. A day to _not_ be tired.

In the limo, Lily even did the stereotypical popping of the wine bottle. She drank a fair amount of it, too. I laughed, but did not join in. Alcohol would make my eyes even heavier.

And then we arrived at the venue. Finally.

Lily stayed in the limo, waiting for her Dad's signal that it was safe to come out. They were very traditional about not wanting the bride and the groom to see each other until the very last moment. The rest of us filed into the line.

The second I saw Len, a wide grin spread across my face. He hadn't even bothered to smooth down his hair. He was dressed in a fancy-looking tuxedo, adorning a light pink bowtie to much us. The rest of them were dressed in a similar manner, but I wasn't interested in any of them.

"Sup!" I greeted Len in my usual, formal manner as the rest of the girls and I scrambled for our places in the line. Through the doors, I saw that every seat was filled. I gulped.

"Hey," Len said. His lack of enthusiasm caused me to look back at him in concern.

"You okay?"

He nodded, looking me up and down.

I grinned nervously, and blushed.

"You guys ready?" Janice appeared out of nowhere, didn't wait for a response, and then disappeared into the room of people. The guests had already realized the ceremony was starting, and had turned to watch us walk in.

And I was first.

I took a deep breath. _You're okay, you're okay. Just wait for the violin. Just wait for the-_

The violin started, and I nearly jumped forward. Len chuckled at my paranoia, and offered me his arm as we started down the aisle.

 _We're walking down the wedding aisle._

I brushed the thought away. This wasn't my day. Not today.

"You can relax, you know," Len whispered to me.

I shook my head, aware that every movement of mine was being witnessed by all of Len's family. "Today has been… something. Already."

"You guys got ready together?"

I nodded. "They look amazing."

He huffed. "Standing next to you, I didn't even notice them."

We reached the altar and parted. I watched him walk to his side over my shoulder, almost tripping in the process. Thankfully, everyone was looking at the next couple instead.

 _Yellow tape, yellow tape._ I searched frantically for it. I could tell why they had decided to use yellow; it was nearly impossible to see unless you were looking for it.

I found it, and placed my right foot over it. I stood with my hands politely behind my back, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Mayu and her partner walked up, and she took her place next to me soon after. The violinist in the background, I noticed only once I had begun to relax, was playing a beautiful melody, sounding much better than a piano would in their ceremony. The elegance of the instrument fit much better with Len's family, I felt, than a traditional piano would. Taking a peek over at the woman, she was enjoying it as much as everyone else. Eyes closed, passionate expressions passing over her face, she was really into it. I grinned. _I should do a violin for my wedding._

All of the bridesmaids and groomsmen had reached the altar. Once the carpet was cleared, Dillon appeared at the doorway, and slowly walked to his place. The crowd had fallen silent. He wore the confident expression he always wore, seemingly no more impressed with the ceremony than any other day. Once again, I understood Len's dislike of him. But there must be _some_ good qualities of him if Lily cared about the guy so much.

Looking over the crowd, there were many familiar faces in front of me. It was comforting. I was lucky enough to be placed in front of Len's family, and, looking over to the other side, I felt bad for Len. He didn't get to be by his family, either.

It was then that my eyes caught the flower basket in front of me. The white one. Not only was it easy to tell which one was smashed, but it was obvious where Len had plucked a flower out. Again, no one else could tell, as far as I could see, but the flowers I had fixed might as well have been black in the sea of white. I stared down at them.

The violinist paused for a moment, catching my attention. The crowd had settled, Dillon had taken his place, and we all waited with bated breath for the bride. Even though I had already seen her today, I could already tell that this was going to be my favorite part of the ceremony as well. _Her big day. Her big walk._

The violinist started again. This time, she played a slow, romantic tune, dragging her bow slowly across the strings.

Lily and Mike entered through the doorway. She had put her veil on, and it hung loosely over her hair. It reached all the way down to the floor, where her dress dragged elegantly behind her. She held a bouquet of white roses with green petals and accents. Her expression was one of pure joy. I could not help but grin back at her as she whispered to her father. I don't know if I had ever seen someone so happy.

I looked over at Len. His eyes were glued to her as well. _Cry, softie._ I mentally taunted him. _Do it._

They reached the end of the carpet. The both stopped a few steps before the altar, before Mike released her arm, and returned to his seat. He plopped down next to Emily, who was already sobbing.

Lily shot Dillon a nervous look before stepping next to him. She handed Ia her bouquet, and folded her hands together in front of her.

The violinist dragged out one last note, before silently lowering her violin and bow to her sides. She held the neck of the violin with both hands in front of her. It hung down to her waist, her bow tucked professionally between the thumb and index finger of her right hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the Minister began. "We welcome, and thank you, for joining us on this wonderful day, to celebrate with us the wedding of Lily and Dillon. Your love and appreciation is what made this day, the relationship, and this life, possible." He was wearing the same outfit as yesterday. He spoke loudly and clearly; this was obviously not his first wedding.

I listened to his introduction, my interest slowly waning. Yes, it was a special day. Yes, it was important and beautiful to watch. But I couldn't even force myself to be entertained by the seemingly endless talking, the speeches, anything. The only important part was the entrance, the rings, and the exit.

"Lily, Dillon. Marriage is the promise between two people to love each other, to trust their love of each other, and to spend the rest of their lives together."

My eyes flickered from the couple to Len, who had been gazing towards me. I met his eyes for a moment, dropped the contact to my feet in embarrassment, and returned to the couple.

He continued his introduction. On and on he spoke of what marriage was about, how wonderful it was that such a large crowd had turned out, and whatever else. I tried my best to look interested, to not let my eyes droop, and to not yawn. I was fairly successful.

"In that spirit, their reading today will be done by Diane, Dillon's mother." The Minister nodded towards a woman on Dillon's side of the stand.

She was a short and stocky woman. She made her way across the room to the podium, holding a bookmarked Bible in her hands.

 _Traditional_ , I mentally rolled my eyes. The clock above the door read 10:06. I had been here for a little over fifteen minutes. Just twenty more to go, more or less.

"Hello and good morning," Dillon's mother, Diane, began. She stood at the podium. From behind her, I could see that a step had been placed so she would be able to reach the microphone. I grinned. "Today, I would like to share with you all a verse from our Lord about the wonderful and caring nature of marriage. In the first Corinthians, chapter thirteen, verses four through twelve, it reads," she cleared her throat. Her voice was rather melodic, low for a female, and confident. I could see where Dillon got his air from. "'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongdoings.'"

Len was looking at me again. I could tell just out of the corner of my eye.

Diane continued. "'Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But when there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away…'"

The rest of her verse seemed unrelated to me, but the beginning was indeed moving. Religion had never had a large part in my life. But the impact of these words still stood with me.

"'Now, I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

 _Two parts make a whole._ I smiled again. _Cute._

She closed her book, and leaned into the mic. "This verse especially speaks to me, because in it, I see the love and Lily and Dillon share…"

I couldn't take it anymore, I looked over at Len. Once our eyes met again, his mouth curled into a smile.

Dillon's mother spoke for a few more minutes before returning to her seat. The Minister cleared his throat once more. "That was beautiful, Diane. We all thank you for your verse." He looked back to the couple in front of him. "Now, it is my knowledge that you two have prepared vows yourself?"

Dillon nodded slowly. Lily nodded furiously. They didn't break eye contact the entire time.

And then the vows. Another part that I found important, yet boring. Dillon spoke first. He talked about how he knew from when they first met they were "meant to be." He kept his vows short, yet infused with love. I nodded slightly to myself in approval.

Lily's were much, much longer. I imagined, after she had been speaking for a minute or two, that if I were to write her vows down, it would be pages upon pages in length. They were still impressive, spoken in a poetic way that I had never heard from her, but I felt a flash of relief when they were finally over.

"Wonderful," the Minister beamed. "Now, may I please have the Maid of Honor and the Best Man present the rings."

Mayu and the man standing next to Dillon stepped up. Dillon went first. He gingerly took the ring from his Best Man's hand, and held it up.

"Your wedding ring is a symbol of your promise to one another," the Minister explained. "Look at each other now and remember this moment in time."

They did. They never stopped looking at each other.

"Dillon, please take Lily's hand and repeat after me-"

Dillon did as he was told.

The Minister began. "Lily, this ring symbolizes my love for you and the commitments we made today."

"Lily," Dillon spoke slowly. "This ring symbolizes my love for you and the commitments we made today."

A tear fell from my eye. _Shit,_ I muttered to myself, quickly wiping it away. My eyes immediately found Len, who had definitely seen. He was silently laughing at me.

I glared daggers at him before returning to the couple. Dillon had just put the ring on Lily's finger. The Best Man stepped back into his line.

"Lily, as you place this ring on Dillon's finger, repeat after me."

Lily nodded, turning to Ia to grab the ring. Ia had put the ring on her thumb for safekeeping, and held her arm straight out, giving Lily the thumbs up. Lily chuckled, and it rippled through the crowd as well.

"Dillon, this ring symbolizes my love for you and the commitments we made today."

"Dillon," Lily repeated. "This ring symbolizes my love for you and the commitments we made today." She slipped his ring on.

I looked over at Len again, just to see him quickly rub at his eyes. It took everything in power to not scream in victory.

"Dillon, do you take Lily to be your wife?"

He nodded. "I do."

 _Ah shit, here it is._

"Lily, do you take Dillon to be your husband?"

"Yeah," she spoke softly. "I do."

Emily had continued her sobbing. She was a mess, but a beautiful mess. She watched with wide, red eyes.

"Lily and Dillon, you have come here today of your own free will and, in the presence of family and friends, have declared your love and commitment to each other. By the power of your love and commitment to each other, and by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now share your first kiss as husband and wife."

Lily basically jumped at him. The crowd laughed as they shared their kiss. _Must have been eager,_ I reasoned with myself. Len was smiling at the couple. _I know the feeling_.

"Congratulations," the Minister concluded. "Friends and family, I present to you the newly married couple." He rose his arms to the air. "Let's hear it for them!"

Everyone in the room stood,clapping, cheering, and yelling. Emily and Mike probably the loudest of all. I joined in on the applause. Len did as well. When he noticed me looking at him, he closed an eye in a sneaky wink.

The couple stood together under the altar as people threw red rose petals into the air from the crowd. I laughed loudly now. That wasn't a part of the rehearsal at all.

The photographer stood in the aisle, snapping picture after picture, before finally moving out of the way as Lily and Dillon started to the door. They started at a walk, upgraded to a jog, and finished with a sprint out of the room.

Goosebumps appeared on my arms at the looks on their faces. Pure joy and happiness. _Yeah,_ I concluded. _Dillon can't be that bad._

The violinist started up again, and we began to file down the aisle. Len and I met up last. My heart jumped as he offered me his arm once again.

"You cried," I stated at my normal volume. The room was still erupting in cheers.

"You did, too."

"But that wasn't the bet," I countered.

"Yeah," he admitted with a laugh. "I cried. I'll admit it. You were right."

A triumphant grin spread across my face. "At last, the words I've always wanted to hear."

We exited the room, leaving the thunderous applause behind us. Lily and Dillon were grinning, laughing, and posing for their photographer in with the peaceful, snow-covered mountain in the background. The other bridesmaids and groomsmen were chatting away while watching the new couple.

"Welp," Len let a deep breath out. Our arms were still linked. "Just the reception now."

"Just?" I asked.

He nodded. "And then it's all over."

My eyes were glued to the couple. I knew what he was saying, but it couldn't form thoroughly in my mind.

He took my silence as a cue to change the subject. "You're gonna dance with me at the reception, right?"

My head snapped to him, a look of disbelief covering my face. " _What?_ You want to _dance_!?"

He pulled at the collar of his tux. "Yeah! I mean… why not?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "Who are you?"

"Kids!" Emily called from behind us.

Len and I both looked over our shoulders to see her running towards us, Mike in tow.

"Would you two like to ride with us to the hotel? The cake should be there soon, and there are just a few things we still need to set up!"

"Sure!" We answered at the same time.

"You guys are the best!" She started for the car, and we followed. "Okay! So all we need to do is get the cake when they bring it, make sure our musicians have somewhere to play, set out the guestbook and welcome table, bring out the silverware…"

This was turning into quite the list already.

Lily's rental car was just as clean as when we left it. Len and I piled into the back seat with Mike behind the wheel and Emily next to him in the passenger seat. She was still talking.

"Ma," Len asked, leaning forward and putting a hand on the back of her seat. "You don't want to take pictures with them?"

She waved him off. "Oh, no. We've had plenty of pictures already. Also," she shot us a mischievous glance. "I look _awful_ right now."

"Oh, hon. Everyone cries at their daughter's wedding," Mike consoled her. He pulled out of the parking spot and sped off down the road.

"You didn't!"

"I promise you, I will later."

The shot each other loving glances. _Man. So much love today._

We drove in silence for a few minutes. Len leaned over on me again. I tried my best to push his stray hair out of my face. It tickled.

"Len, you'll be able to take us to the airport tomorrow, right?"

This question impacted me in ways I never would have imagined. Len confirmed, but his voice was only a echo in my head as I took a sharp intake of breath. It would all be over tomorrow.

"What time is your flight?" Len asked.

"Noon."

 _Noon._ We would have to leave around 7:30 or 9 in the morning to get there in time, and then we would drop them off, and drive the four hour drive back in silence. With Len's head leaning affectionately against my shoulder, I could already feel the tension in the air as we would drive back from the airport. And then we would go to his apartment. I'd pack.

And then I'd go home. Things would go back to normal. But the thought seemed all but comforting.

My eyes fluttered down to the blonde boy. He was still talking to his parents, seemingly in a different world. He stared ahead with those bright blue eyes, talking to his parents with those lips that had kissed me so many times this week.

 _The kiss._ The butterflies I had felt at the museum, the sly flirts, the hand holding. It would all be over. And the deep disappointment I felt, staring down at him and thinking over the past week, made me realize something. Maybe it wasn't fake anymore.

 _Ah, shit._ I finally admitted it to myself. I had dreaded this week, and now that it was almost over, I'd give anything to go back. Because I didn't want it to end. I didn't want _us_ to end.

I took a deep breath. _Of course I'm stupid enough to fall for my best friend._ But did he feel the same? There was evidence to support, for sure. But… how could I say it? My wit started with jokes and ended with… jokes. How could I tell him what was going through my head?

Another uncomfortable feeling rose up in me. I couldn't tell my best friend something. I couldn't believe it, this had never happened before. _Never._

"Rin, will you come with us?"

Emily's question brought me back to reality. "Um, huh?"

"To the airport," she clarified, turning to look at me. I must have looked frazzled. Her brow furrowed in concern. "You okay honey?"

Len sat tall to look me over too. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. With my newfound realization, I found it extremely difficult, no, impossible, to look at him.

"Y-Yeah!" I stammered. "I'm going with you guys. And, I'm fine."

"We'll have to wake up early," Mike warned.

I faked a smile. "That's okay! I'm used to it by now."

That seemed to satisfy the occupants of the car. Emily turned back towards the front, and Len cuddled up to me again. His head was much heavier on my shoulder now.

We pulled up to the hotel not long after that. There wasn't anything to carry inside, and, more importantly, nothing to distract me from the statue that still remained as the one and only bane of my existence. I stared it down as Len and I followed his parents across the lobby.

"What's with the statue?" Len finally asked.

I feigned ignorance. "Huh?"  
"You stare at it every time we walk through the lobby."

I shrugged. "It's, a, it's a long story."

"Shorten it for me. I'm curious."

Mike and Emily opened the double doors. I lowered my voice. "You know that… bag? From Lily's party?"

He nodded, leaning in to hear me.

"Well, um, those handcuffs?" My voice was barely above a whisper.

A small grin formed. "Yeah?" He egged me on, though I knew he could see where this was going.

"They were, uh, around her wrists. I had to… um, go get them."

He paused. "In front of the whole lobby?"

I nodded slowly, still refusing to look at him.

He snorted, then erupted into full blown laughter. My face grew red as Emily and Mike turned to us.

"What is it?" Emily asked, looking left out.

"N-nothing," Len told her between laughs. "Rin just- HAH - Rin just told me a funny joke."

His laughing made me laugh, but my face was beet red. Thankfully, his parents decided not to push.

About two and a half hours later, the guest book had been set out, the silver had been dispersed, the guests had arrived, the cake stood tall in the corner, the orchestra had set up (it contained a strings quartet, including the violinist from the wedding), and everyone had settled down for dinner.

The speeches had begun. Emily stood first, clinking her fork gently against her glass to gain the room's attention. She began to speak, but, like all day, I spaced everything she said as I retreated into my own thoughts.

I was right, Len and I were sitting at the table on the stage. Emily and Dillon were in the middle, with Len and I on Lily's side. There had been tons of people at the ceremony, but there looked to be even more people at the reception. I scanned the room. Each table held about ten, there were… eighteen tables, and nearly every seat was filled. Wow. I could never imagine even knowing that many people, let alone having that many friends.

Len sat next to me, still in his dashing tuxedo, watching his mother speak. I felt a pang of guilt that I would not hear her, most likely, wonderful speech, but I just couldn't concentrate right now.

Emily sat down, and there was applause. A man on Dillon's side, his father, I assumed, stood next.

Len's hands rested limply on the table. I could tell he was eager to eat; I was too. My eyes floated over the crooks of his hands that I had come to be so familiar with throughout the week. Without thinking, I slipped my hand under his. He shot me a kind smile, the look in his eyes driving me even crazier than before, and brought his attention back to the speaker.

What would I do without him? It was a serious question. I had never had any problem with living alone before, but now, just the thought of my apartment gave me chills. I had always been an introvert, but the idea of being alone at home scared me. Even though I was still living with him, I began to think of Len and I's normal Monday morning trip to our coffee shop with apprehension and excitement.

Another negative feeling passed through me. Why should I have to look forward to spending little moments with him, when I could just live with him?

Dillon's father sat down. I pondered these thoughts over and over in my mind until the last speaker, Meiko, finally finished. Len rubbed his hands together as the party was dismissed for the buffet line.

Dinner was over, the audience had watched the happy couple cut the cake, and cocktail hour had begun. I didn't see the bar open, but I didn't need to. People were already beginning to laugh too loudly, walk too slowly and clumsily, and spill their drinks.

Len had devoured his food, Lily and Dillon had their amazingly sweet first dance, and the dancefloor was open.

Len leaned back in his chair. "Dude. I can't move."

My plate sat in front of me, most of my food still remaining. I couldn't find the heart, or the hunger, to finish it completely. "So no dance?" I joked. I still couldn't look at him. I kept my eyes on the dancefloor as happy couples danced, and children ran around their feet.

He chuckled. "Oh," he began in a low voice. "There _will_ be a dance. I promise you that."

My chin had been resting in my hand as I gazed out into the crowd. I had to move it. For the love of God, I was shaking. I was _shaking_ , sitting next to my best friend of many years. I couldn't believe myself. How could I act like this? Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that something so sudden could change me so drastically.

He leaned forward suddenly. I had gotten lost in my head again. It had been almost five minutes.

"You ready?" he asked me.

I took a shaky breath. _Calm the fuck down,_ I scolded myself. _It's just him._ Why, why why was I so nervous? _Dammit._

"Y-yeah," I stuttered, cursing myself again.

He pushed his chair back, standing, and holding his hand gently out to me. I took one last deep breath, my gaze starting at his outstretched hand and working its way up to his face. At the sight of his dorky, handsome face, I gulped. He had that goofy grin on.

"May I have this dance?" He asked softly.

Another deep breath. How could he not see what he was doing to me? I swear I felt a zap of electricity when my small hand met his. I stood, and walked with him to the floor.

"Do… do you even know _how_ to dance?" I asked. My eyes looked everywhere except him. I feared that meeting his eyes would turn my legs to jelly.

"I know enough."

Despite myself, I laughed. "Enough?"

The quartet played a gentle tune as the couples danced gracefully across the wooden floor. I suddenly thanked God for my choice in shoes, these flats were extremely comfortable, comfortable enough that I didn't have to take them off. I saw several pairs of bare feet running around. _Classy_ , I thought.

He stopped us near the middle of the dancefloor. He held my left hand with his, and gently placed another hand on my waist.

Another deep breath. _Don't blush, don't blush, don't blush don't -_

"You're blushing," he snickered.

"Fuck you," I muttered, looking over at the quartet. He laughed as he started leading us around the floor.

"I think they should have had a DJ."

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "What?" I looked over the elegant performers. "Why?"

"So they could have a rave."

I shook my head, a smile forming. "You can have a rave at _your_ wedding."

"Would you be okay with that?'

I shook my head. "Are you kidding? Weddings are supposed to be fancy. The orchestra-" And then my mind processed what he had actually said, and my mouth clamped shut. My embarrassed and angry eyes met him.

He held in a laugh. "You're doing it again."

I headbutted into his chest so he wouldn't see my face. "Fuck you," I repeated.

We stayed that way for a while, before I finally pulled myself away from him. _Anything else. Look at anything else. Anything._

A child ran past us, almost running into me. Stepping out of the way just in time, the child merely sent a ruffle through the bottom of my dress.

 _Oh God. I'm in a dress. And he's in a tux._

I could die. This was so amazing and yet so embarrassing at the same time. I wanted to go hide in a closet somewhere, and at the same time get shit-faced and party the hell out of the night. _That's probably what Lily's doing,_ I thought with a smile.

We danced slowly for a few songs, exchanging no words. As the time went by, I noticed he had become more tense. His movements weren't as careless and graceful - _graceful?! Len? Rin, what the fuck? -_ as they had been when we first started.

The debate on whether to ask him if he was okay had just begun in my mind when he beat me to it.

"Rin, you're all… quiet."

I sighed. "...yeah."

"What's the matter?"

My eyes found the quartet. In our dance, we turned away from them, and I desperately looked for something else. "Um, nothing."

"Bullshit." His voice wasn't so kind anymore. Not mean, either, just… worried.

 _Fuck. I'm worrying him._

"I'm fine, really."

"Then look at me."

My breathing hitched. He had noticed. "Um…"

"Look at me," he repeated.

I bit my lip. He waited patiently.

Bracing myself, I slowly pulled my eyes to him. It had the effect on me that I knew it would. It took all of my strength not to melt into the floor.

He pulled me closer, and, before I could even think of hesitating, pulled me into a deep kiss. My head spun. I rested my hands on his chest for support. The room moved around us, but it felt like we were the only two there. One hand on my waist, and the other cupping my cheek.

It lasted only a moment. Definitely our shortest kiss. Or so it felt.

"Tell me what's wrong," he demanded as he pulled away.

The orchestra began a new song, this one much more upbeat and quicker. We began to move faster through the crowd so we wouldn't be trampled. Smiling faces and laughter surrounded us. I resisted the urge to break free of him and sprint for the door.

"I, um, I just…" _Dammit, Rin. Get yourself together._ It offended my conscience that I was this hung up over a boy. Over _Len_ , moreover.

He stared me down, mentally egging me on.

We spun faster. Our feet moved faster. Miraculously, we didn't trip once.

"I'm just confused, like-" I cut myself off again.

He just kept staring.

"I just don't want to pretend anymore, okay?" I yelled out much harsher than I had meant to. My gaze was finally able to meet his with the same strength and emotion.

His expression faltered a bit, before darkening. "Well," he said, slowly and quietly. "You don't have to after tomorrow. You can go home."

"Wha-" _No, Len, you idiot!_ For a straight A student, he head sure was full of air sometimes. _That's not what I meant at all. I mean I want it to be_ real! _Not that I want it to end!_

"Rinny!" A slurred voice called out behind me. I didn't have time to clarify. The defeated look on his face stabbed at me painfully.

 _What? No, no, not now._

Sure enough, it was Lily. Still dressed in her amazing gown, still with her perfect hair, still beautiful in her makeup, only much, much more drunk. "I'm about to throw the bouquet!" She slurred.

"Oh, um…"

The rest of the family had returned to the stage. Only the bridesmaids seats were empty. Turning back to Len, confusion overcame me. He had gone. I caught him walking the steps back to our seats. I felt shiver run through me. _No, wait. Come back._

Lily held her bouquet, and I was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of young girls. She grinned brightly at the group, before turning around, and tossing the flowers into the air.

I actually felt incredibly trapped, the happy mood from the wedding seemed only a memory to me now. I was alone in this crowd of people I barely knew, surrounded by a room of strangers, with the person who was familiar to me retreated away.

I didn't catch it. I don't know who did, and I didn't care.

There were cheers around me. I blinked tears from my eyes, clapping along with them, like a puppet. I ruined it. I had ruined it.

Lily cheered louder than ever. Suddenly, Dillon was at her side, and the crowd I was standing in formed to be larger and larger, until the entire room formed in front of them. They divided into two sides, leaving another aisle for the couple to walk down, before the husband and wife ran through us. The exited the door, leaving for what I assumed was the last time, before the crowd dispersed into a heap of goodbye's.

I have never been so happy and so thankful for Emily to tap on my shoulder.

"Dear!" She yelled. Seeing the expression on my face, her smile dropped instantly. "What's the matter, Rin?" Her hand found my shoulder.

I couldn't speak. I was choked up. There was nothing to say, anyway. I stared at her like a maniac, my mouth trying to form words, and failing.

"Rin, honey, shh," she tried to calm me.

I felt awful. Again, this was a celebration. And here I was, on the verge of tears, with the bride's should-be-happy mother in front of me.

I barely recognized the faces that passed us as she led me out of the room.

"Let's go home," she whispered, holding onto my shoulder. "It's been a long day, sweetie. You're tired."

I shook my head like a child throwing a tantrum. It was home for me anymore.

"You should stay," I squeaked out.

"Oh, no," she waved her hand. She did that a lot. "I'm exhausted too. And you were right. A crowd of too many people can be… stressful.

I thought back to the day we had picked her up. The airport had been awful. And we were going again, tomorrow.

Emily basically carried me to Lily's rental car, and we drove home in silence. She didn't pry, thankfully.

"What about Mike and L-" his name caught in my throat. "Len?"

"They can walk, dear. You need some sleep. Plus, they'll have to clean up after, anyway."

Another jab of guilt caught me. I should have helped.

The apartment was quiet and empty. I went straight for Len's room on impulse, before halting right at his door. My dress was heavy and suddenly uncomfortable. I kicked my shoes off next to the closed door. I couldn't find the strength to push it open.

"Rinny," Emily began carefully. "Did something happen with you and Len?"

The question was expected, but I was still unprepared to answer it.

"No," I said, finally pushing the door open. "Nothing happened with us. Nothing ever."

I closed the door behind me.

It had to have been around two or three in the morning when I half awoke, feeling the bed next to me. It was empty. Confused, I sat up, blinking at the empty space.

There were voices in the living room. They were what woke me up.

I laid my head back down. _He's coming,_ I told myself. _He's gonna come in._

But the door never opened. I realized, with the feeling of being stabbed in the gut, that Len was probably going to sleep in the living room.

A single tear rolled down my cheek as unconsciousness took over me again. Len was avoiding me.


	10. Sunday - 2

"Oh, hon," Emily wrapped her arms around me tightly, so tight I fought for air. "We will miss you so much."

We stood outside of DIA, in the drop-off lane. Len's car sat next to us, still running, since we could stay for long. It was around 10:30 in the morning. The sky was overcast, and I had no doubt it was snowing back at home. People swarmed around us as they said goodbye and unloaded luggage.

Len hugged his dad next to us. "See you, son. Come visit us when you can."

Len nodded slowly. "I will." His voice was low, and his eyes didn't leave the ground.

I thought of my own parents, and how I could drive down to Denver and visit them whenever I wanted to. Len didn't have that luxury.

"And you too!" Mike called to me with a smile.

For the first time all week, it was extremely difficult for Len and I to act like a couple. I gave his father my best friendly smile, before giving him a wave. "I'll come see you guys when I can!" It wasn't exactly a lie. Before this trip, I never would have imagined becoming this close with his family. It was just a shame I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to Lily.

The attendant who was manning the drop-off lane waved us on. Len started back for his car. His parents gave us one last wave before they disappeared inside.

 _Fuck._ Here it was. The part I had been dreading.

The car ride home was silent. At first I tried my best to fall asleep, but I had already slept through the entire drive here, and my suddenly clouded mind kept me from sleep. I settled for watching the scenery fly by out the window instead.

This was my chance to talk to him. This was my chance to clarify what I had meant by "wanting to stop pretending." But I couldn't. My mind kept flashing back to my confession, his disappointed face replaying in my head over and over again. If he thought I wanted to cut it off, and was disappointed, then he obviously wanted to stick with it. But… had he been disappointed? Had I imagined it? What if I had? What if he had heard what he wanted to hear? That would explain why he misunderstood me… or what if he hadn't misunderstood me at all? Maybe my confession had made him uncomfortable. Maybe he didn't feel the same way.

 _Shit, Rin_ , I thought to myself, squeezing my eyes shut. _What have you done?_

A wave of relief washed over me the second we entered the mountains. We were going home. It would be normal, everything would go back to normal. The way it was before. I would get over this, and Len and I would meet for coffee every morning that we could. And maybe we could invite Miku or Luka along for a while. The air in the car was so thick I felt I could pick it out of the air. It would probably be like this with us for a while, too, I admitted to myself. Having our friends with us when we hung out would help with that.

At least, I hoped it would.

Our kisses popped into my mind immediately, and I huffed in annoyance. Step one of getting over this: Don't think about _kissing_ the boy. Ugh. _Why am I like this._

But I couldn't help it. Our first kiss was… when was it? Oh, right, it was the day after his parents came into town. A week ago, exactly. Wow, it was only a week ago. It felt like ages, yet, at the same time, it felt like it was yesterday. We had gone through so much and kept busy all week, and yet it had only been a week.

Anyway. The kiss.

I had initiated it. Had I initiated any of the others?

… No, I couldn't think of any. A smile taunted the edges of my lips. Len only needed one to break the ice, and then he had no problem with it. Shy, nerdy little Len.

 _Stop, Rin. It's over. There's no point in-_

"Thank you."

I jumped at his words. "What?" This was the first time he had spoken to me since the night before.

"Thank you for helping me out this week."

Him speaking to me had gotten my hopes up. Now, they were dying down again. "Yeah," I breathed out, leaning my head against the window. "No problem."

And then it was silent once again.

We didn't exchange any more words until we reached his apartment. He parked, and we walked into his apartment together for the last time. I walked slowly, my feet dragging behind me, but I kept going nonetheless. Len walked ahead of me. He wouldn't look at me.

The quiet atmosphere of his apartment hit me one last time as he opened the door. Wordlessly, he sat down on the couch in the living room. _Nothing like some sports to make a boy feel better,_ I thought, trying, and failing, to joke even with myself.

I took the hint, and entered his room. The sheets on his bed were still ruffled from where we - I - had slept there last night. My backpack was still sprawled across the floor on my side of the bed, only now my clothes were going to be much harder to find.

A couple pairs of my leggings were on the bathroom floor, where Len and I brushed our teeth together every morning and every night. Where he walked in on me wearing only a towel like it was nothing.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. There was no point in dwelling on them now.

The bag of… toys from Lily's party sat under Len's bed. I didn't touch them. " _Hell, he will probably get more use out of them than me,_ I thought with amusement. _With someone else._ The amusement disappeared.

There were a few bags of clothes from our shopping spree with Len's parents a week ago. I was able to shove all of them into my backpack, with one plastic shopping bag leftover. It was no problem carrying my backpack and one extra bag.

That was everything. With my backpack on my back, and the shopping bag in my hand, I slowly stood and surveyed the room one last time. It had only been a week. And there were so many memories here.

 _There. Now it's not awkward._

 _...They don't really understand how lucky they are to have you._

 _You sure do love your toys, don't you?_

 _We have a few hours of extreme coupliness ahead of us._

"Quit it," I said aloud. "Just quit it."

"Quit what?"

I had left the door open, and Len had silently made his way over, and was now leaning in the doorway.

I whirled around. "N-nothing. It's just… weird to leave." Again, not a lie.

He nodded slowly. His eyes scanned the floor. "Yeah. It is."

 _Tell him. Do it now. Do it._ "W-what's wrong?"

"Tired from driving." He answered quickly.

"Oh."

Nothing. I couldn't leave, he was in the door. There must have been something he wanted to tell me, but couldn't bring it out. Why else would he basically trap me in here?

"It's weird now," was all he said. "Between us."

 _Us._ My heart fluttered. _Us._ I didn't know how to respond.

"...I ruined us."

"No you didn't!" I yelled before he could say anything else. "You didn't. _I_ agreed to help you, _I_ agreed to this plan, and it's going to be weird for a little, yeah, but we'll get over it!" I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "We always do."

"But it was my idea."

"And it was my pleasure to help you out. It was a great week."

He pulled one of his hands out of his pockets and rubbed the nape of his neck nervously. "Sorry," he said again, moving out of the way this time. "I know you probably want to get home."

 _Hell fucking no I don't._ Why couldn't I just say was I was thinking? It's what I always did, anyway. Why couldn't I do it now? When it would actually _help_ me?

I chuckled. "Yeah," I answered instead. I started out of his room, feeling myself falling deeper and deeper into a pit with every step I took.

Crossed the apartment. Opened the door. Len stood behind me. One last deep breath.

"Coffee tomorrow?" I asked him over my shoulder. I could feel him standing behind me, holding the door open.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"...see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you."

I stood in the doorway for too long, before I finally willed my legs to move. Out into the silent hallway. One foot after another. The door creaked as it closed behind me. The second the handle clicked shut, I froze.

I was ten steps away. No, eight. Standing in the middle of the hallway with a backpack and a shopping bag, I must have looked ridiculous. To add to the insanity, my eyes were welling with tears.

 _Why, why, why? Why am I like this? Why can't I just tell him?_

I entered an internal battle with myself. _Because it's a one way street, Rin._

 _Then why would he kiss me when no one was around? Hold my hand when he knew I needed it? Let me sleep in the same bed with him? Share a bathroom with him? Introduce me to his entire family?_

I didn't even try to stop my tears from falling. There was no way I could walk home alone tonight. Sleeping in my own lumpy, cold bed alone? Forget it. Len wouldn't be able to function without my coffee. I couldn't meet him tomorrow morning like everything was normal, like I didn't miss staying up late with him, miss cuddling and kissing him.

Without giving myself the chance to second guess myself, I turned around, stomped my way back to his door, and pounded on it with a balled fist.

He opened it instantly, a shocked expression covering his face at the sight of my tearstained, angry face.

"You're so… fucking stupid!" I yelled angrily at him, tears still falling.

His mouth dropped open. I didn't give him the chance to speak.

"You think you could just give me a week like that and expect me to _want_ to go back to my shitty, small apartment with my neighbors who never shut the fuck up and my basic cable with none of the movie channels and sleep in my shitty-ass bed bed _by my fucking self?_ You think I can just forget how awesome it was to be with you nonstop for a week, with your incessant 'fake' flirting and making out with me at the most random times? Even when your family was nowhere near us? And putting flowers in my hair and staring me down during a fucking _wedding_ and dancing with me - you really think I want to go home?!" I was nearly screaming now, and the tears hadn't stopped either.

He was stunned. "Y-you said you didn't want to pret-"

"I know what I said! And I didn't want it to be over, I wanted it to be _real_!"

There it was. I said it. My shoulders were heaving from a combination of yelling and crying, the plastic bag had fallen to the floor, my hands were stilled balled into fists, I felt like a bull ready to charge. _Just a really, really sad bull._

I looked down at the floor, the anger suddenly draining out of me. My shoulders fell. He wasn't saying anything. _I told you, Rin. This is a one-way street._

My fingers relaxed, and I slowly raised them up to cover my face. _Fuck, I look so stupid. So pathetic. So-_

Len grabbed the plastic bag, threw it in his apartment, yanked me inside, and shut the door. Before I could question him, I was wrapped in another of his famous bear hugs. He held the back of my head, pulling me into his chest. He was breathing heavily, just like me.

"Please stop crying," he muttered. "I really don't like seeing you cry."

 _Have I cried in front of him before?_ I couldn't remember.

He took a deep breath. "I don't want you to leave, either. I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. So just… don't leave, okay?"

My heart swelled. He wasn't asking for my sake. He was asking for his. I closed my eyes, returning his hug. "Th-that's all I wanted." My normal, joking tone returned for a moment before I resumed my sniffling. I wiped my head back and forth on his t-shirt to wipe away my excess tears.

He leaned back, placing a hand on each side of my reddened face. Stray tears still fell from my eyes, and I tried to look away from him, but Len held me firmly in place. He wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

A smile formed. " _Stop it,"_ he teased.

I chuckled. "I will." My voice was still more of a whimper than anything.

"Stooooop it," he sang.

"I _am._ "

And then he pulled me in, not being gentle about his kiss this time. Our lips smashed into each other. I wrapped my arms around his neck and intertwined my fingers behind him. One of his hands entangled itself in my hair, pulling me even closer to him, the other falling to my waist and wrapping tightly. Our breathing was labored and uneven. _See, Rin?_ I told myself. _This is what happens when you learn how to talk to people._

I broke the kiss off for just a moment as I took a deep breath in. His eyes opened for just a moment, staring at me with those low-lidded, loving eyes. I leaned back in, our tongues dancing.

His arms slid down my body before stopping at the back of my thighs. I gasped as he lifted me up, setting me gently on the kitchen counter. I pulled back for a moment to let out a laugh, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?" he asked, his voice little more than a growl.

His deep tone gave me shivers. "What do we do now?" I asked innocently.

"Well," he looked over toward his door, and back at me. Our noses were nearly touching.

"There _is_ a bag of sex toys under my bed."

 _Holy shit, guys. This is, like, the first story I have uploaded here and finished. It's... crazy._

 _I don't know why, but not too long ago I started thinking about this story a lot, and I felt like I just really needed to finish it. I guess I've just been hit with a wave of inspiration. I don't know if I'll start up other stories, or finish the ones I already have, or add more to The Collection (if you haven't checked out my short stories collection, feel free to!)._

 _Thank you guys for all your support. Rereading all the reviews from a few years ago really helped me finish this guy. It's amazing how motivating it was. So thank you guys! I hope you enjoyed reading!_

 _Also, sorry about any mistakes! I'm sure there are lots in all of these new chapters. I ran them all out in less than a week and got pretty lazy with spell checking, so please, forgive me._

 _Love you guys!_


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